We are living in an unprecedented time in our world today. i’m sure you have read that line a bunch of times recently. This is a season we will not soon forget - nor should we. However, often we get so caught up surviving the ‘moments’, we do forget to pay attention to what we are noticing in the middle of it all.
So what if we use this time to pay attention- not just to this moment, but to the moments in our lives that are even now speaking into what and how we are experiencing this uncertain time.
What are the moments when God showed up and touched the very heart of you?
Think about the significant moments in your past; moments you remember really well and recall in vivid detail. You can remember who was with you, what happened, how it felt. You might even be able to share how that moment had changed your life.
Even as you read the paragraph above some of your moments flashed into your mind. Life events – Tragedies – Celebrations. Often these make the list of significant moments.
Many of them are BIG moments that transformed us in some way.
Some may seem like single events that seem to stand alone.
Still others are immediately intertwined with moments from before.
I immediately think of my MOMENT - actually a series of moments that I consider to be my RED SEA moment.
Do you remember hearing the story of the children of Israel at the parting of the Red Sea? There are a series of moments when the children of Israel are between a rock and a hard place. And then God shows up in amazing ways.
I tell more of the story in Chapter 15 of my book Lovely Traces of Hope, but you can read all about it right now in book of Exodus.
The synopsis of the story is that God showed up in a burning bush to Moses and told him to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt (an important figure from Moses’ past) to ask him to let the Children of Israel return to there promised land. (I love this part of Moses’ story.)
Moses and his brother Aaron return to Egypt and gather the people of Israel to tell them that God sent them. The children of Israel believe them. But the Pharaoh–not so much! Instead of listening to Moses, he made the Israelites work harder than ever.
Then God showed up with 10 plagues which you will just have to read about on your own in Exodus. After a long series of requests, the Egyptian Pharaoh finally gives permission for the children of Israel to leave.
Picture trying to move an entire community- actually an entire nation of people.
Men
Women and children
All the livestock and animals
Carrying all the silver and gold that the Egyptians had given them
All of their clothes and baggage
And flat bread. (Want to know why? Read Exodus!)
But shortly after they leave, the Pharaoh changes his mind and orders his army to pursue the Israelites and bring them back–or worse, kill them. It seemed it would be quite easy for them to catch up to such a big group of people.
Then God shows up! Not as he had previously in their story but in a new way. This time he came with a pillar of cloud to protect them from being seen during the day and a pillar of fire to light the way for them at night.
God even told Moses what route to use. Scripture tells us he didn’t lead them on the shortest route.
For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
So there they are at the edge of the RED SEA and they turn to to see the Pharaoh’s army pursuing them. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
Can you imagine what that must have felt like?
Then God shows up again.
Then God instructed Moses to raise his staff over the waters to divide the sea. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Exodus 14:21-222
Imagine standing on the edge of that water bank! You wonder if the people felt a something like we feel in this crazy time in our world today.
But look what happened when the Red Sea saw God.
The waters tremble, the winds blow, and earth quakes. And the RED SEA divides to create a path through the sea, a dry path.
It was a path no one knew was there (Ps 77: 19).
Even though they were in the middle of a miracle as the waters stood up to make a way for them, what courage it must have taken for these people to walk - with their children by their side - between the walls of water. They had to be wondering if the wind storm might end at any moment and the waters would come crashing down on them.
But what option did they have? The Egyptians were pursuing them and to not cross would be death, or certainly the bondage they had just been freed from. Even with all the insecurity, going through the sea had to be the least frightening choice.
It took the tribe of Israel all night long to get all of the people through to the other side. They watched as Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the path.
You wonder if the children of Israel were beginning to wonder why God had opened this way for them only to have the Egyptians overtake them on the other side.
Would you have been afraid? I would have been.
Then just before daybreak, as the last of the Israelites stepped out on the other side, the Lord told Moses to stretch out his staff over the sea again, and the sea went back into place. The entire army of Pharaoh was swept into the sea. Not one of them survived.
That’s the Red Sea Moment.
The moment that the children of Israel remember over and over again and have told from one generation to the next recalling in vivid detail who was with them, what happened, how it felt. Often they shared how that moment changed their life.
All through scripture you see references to the Red Sea!
THE moment when God showed up differently than they had ever seen him before and provided something they all needed but no one could fathom.
That’s a story you tell your kids and they pass on to their children.
Check out the the book of Exodus. See if you can identify with a particular character in the story. I’d love to hear your Red Sea story in the comments below. Or you can email me at kathy@kathyburrus.com.
What are you noticing in the middle of this hard place?
So what’s my Red Sea story? Well, I guess you’ll have to wait for the next post. I’ve got a story to tell you about moments that changed my life. Or if you are really curious…
Read more about my RED SEA story right away.