Exodus 14
Have you ever felt trapped between an impenetrable obstacle before you and an implacable enemy behind you, with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no apparent way of escape? If so, then you know how the ancient Israelites felt in this week’s Old Testament readings after they escaped slavery in Egypt only to be hemmed in with the Red Sea before them and the armies of Egypt behind them, seeking to capture them and return them to Egypt.
You see, the ancient Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for a very long time. Suffering in their sad slavery, they called out to God and God heard their cries. God sent Moses to lead them to freedom. But when Moses confronted Pharaoh and demanded Israel’s release, Pharaoh refused. God then sent ten plagues to punish Pharaoh for his stubbornness and to force Pharaoh to free Israel. After the tenth plague, proclaimed by Pharoah himself, led to the killing of the firstborn of every living thing in Egypt, except those Israelites whose homes were marked by the blood of an innocent lamb.
After this tenth plague, Pharaoh finally relented and freed Israel. Pharaoh said to Moses, “Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord, as you said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone” (Exodus 2:31-32). So the Israelites left Egypt, heading toward the Promised Land. But after their departure, Pharaoh changed his mind. He gathered his army and set chase across the wilderness to recapture his freed slaves. The Egyptian army overtook the Israelites at the Red Sea. Pharoah found Israel there, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea!
So how did Israel get into this predicament? Did they get trapped there because of their own poor choices? Did they get trapped through the poor choices of others? Did Moses make some grave mistake as he led Israel out of Egypt?
You can find all kinds of ‘human’ reasons they were trapped, but the real reason was because God put them there. It was God who sent his angel before the Israelites, leading them along the way. It was God who told Moses to turn back and camp by the sea. Why did God put Israel in such a difficult and dangerous place? God put them there because he wanted to defeat the devil, glorify himself, and increase the people’s faith! He wanted the Israelites AND the Egyptians to know that he, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was the one true God over all. God wanted to increase Israel’s faith by demonstrating his power on their behalf.
God then parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could pass through safely, and then closed those same waters on the Egyptian army. After this demonstration of God’s power, the people believed in the Lord, and in his servant Moses. They feared the Lord and their faith increased!
Perhaps this also is true for us today. When we find ourselves in difficult places, perhaps it is God who has put us there for a specific purpose. If God puts you between the devil and the deep blue sea, likely it is because he wants to defeat the devil, glorify himself, and increase your faith.
This brings us to another point. How did the Israelites react? The first thing they did was cry out to God. Exodus 14:10 says, “As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord.” When we are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, the first thing we should do is cry out in prayer. In Jeremiah 33:3, God says, “Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, about which you know not.”
The second thing we should do is avoid grumbling complaints. It is easy to complain when you find yourself in a difficult situation. That’s what the Israelites did. In Exodus 14:11-12, “They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
If prayer puts you in touch with the power of God, then grumbling will often impede the flow of God’s grace. God put up with Israel’s grumbling in this particular instance but grew tired of it over time and even judged them for it on numerous occasions. Instead, we should follow Paul’s advice in Philippians 2:14 where he says, “Do all things without murmuring and arguing so you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation…”
The third thing you should do whenever you’re stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea is get good and godly counsel. If in Exodus 14:11-12, the Israelites complained to Moses, in the next verse, Moses gave them some godly counsel. “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still’” (Exodus 14:13-14) In essence, Moses told them not to take counsel of their fears but to stand firm in their faith, trusting God for deliverance.
Whenever you find yourself in a difficult place you should seek good and godly counsel from spiritual advisors.
The fourth thing you should do when stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea is move forward by faith. Don’t stand around complaining. Instead, do something, based on prayer and godly counsel, to face down your foes and to burrow through your obstacles. You see, it’s easy to be paralyzed with fear, as the Israelites were, whenever there’s an impenetrable obstacle in front of you and an implacable enemy behind you. But you have to shake off the paralysis and move forward by faith, doing something to face down your foes or overcome your obstacles.
God said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground.” (Exodus 14:15-16) And that’s just what Moses did. He stretched out his hand over the sea, God parted the waters, and the Israelites moved forward by faith to freedom!
The last step, that we often forget to take, is to thank God. After Egypt was defeated and Israel was free, Moses and the Israelites sang a song of praise saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.” (Exodus 15:1) This song went on for 18 more verses. And when the men finally stopped singing, Miriam, Moses’ sister, picked up the tambourine and led all the women in a final verse: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”
So let me close by summarizing some practical lessons from this priceless passage. When you ever find yourself stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, remember that God may have put you there for a purpose. Why? To defeat the devil; to glorify himself; and to increase your faith! If you avoid grumbling complaints, if you cry out to God in prayer, if you seek godly counsel and move forward by faith, God will intervene in some way, and you will have reason to give him thanks and praise.
“Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today!”
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!