No one really enjoys going through hard times! But, rest assured, difficulties are a part of our life. Stress and anxiety have been around since Adam and Eve, and as we read all through God’s Word, we are reminded of all the people who walked through tough things. We also see woven through the Bible how God was with those who put their trust in Him. He was even with people who were living on the fence. God’s people, the Israelites, faced a huge trial they couldn’t face without the presence of God in their lives: the exit from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. The reading today is from a book I acquired through one of my precious sisters. She sent the book to me and encouraged me to read the devotionals while going through long, tough times. This little book, The Red Sea Rules, has been such an encouragement to me.
“These past couple of weeks have been hard on our family. I picked up the the book and read the next excerpt. I was thanfkul for the title, because to be honest, I was loosing some ground in feeling God’s presence with me in our current struggles.”
But, because God’s word is soothing and faithful to fill you up, I am encouraged and know my God is with me, and whom shall I fear?
I suggest you read it slowly and then go back and look up the scriptures in your Bible. Let it soak into your innermost being. “- Brinda Vanlueven, Children’s Pastor”
Expert From The Red Sea Rules by Robert Morgan
For your Van-guard is the Lord, and your Rear-guard is the God of Israel. Isaiah 52:12 (Rotherham Translation)
The Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. “Who is this angel of God accompanying the Israelites in Exodus 14? The previous chapter told us, “The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud…and by night
in a pillar of fire” (Ex. 13:21). The prophet Isaiah later explained that the “Angel of His Presence” saved the Israelites (Isa. 63:9).
The pillar of fire and cloud, in theological language, was a theophany or a Christophany, a singular Old Testament appearance of God Himself, specifically of God the Son, second person of the Trinity, who manifests the Father’s presence (John 1:18).
In other words, the Lord Himself ushered the Israelites through the Red Sea: “The Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them…So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night” (Ex 14:19-20).
What a perfect description of our Lord Jesus, who gives light to those who trust Him, but to those who reject Him, utter darkness He comforts the one and confounds the other. He is a Savior to the one, and. Judge to the other.
For His children, He serves as both Guard and Guide. He both recedes us and protects us. He is simultaneously our Shepherd and Shield. He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the One who goes before, guiding into the future, and the One who goes behind, gathering up our debris, our failures, and our poor attempts at ministry, blessing us and leaving a blessing behind us for others.
Consider what the psalmist declared,
I look behind me and you are there, then up ahead and you are there, too;
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful;
I can’t take it all in! Ps. 139:5-6 The Message)
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the LORD surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever. (Ps. 125:2)
God surrounds His people with favor “as with a shield” (Ps. 5:12). God surrounds His people with “songs of deliverance”; mercy surrounds those who trust in the Lord (Ps. 32:7,10). We pray along with the psalmist: “Lord, let your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in you alone” (Ps. 33:22 TLB).
At the Red Sea, God put His people in a position where His presence had never been so real to them. Using difficulty, He cultivated within them a greater appreciation for Himself. “God’s presence in the trial is much better than exemption from the trial,” wrote one commentator. “The Lord’s presence is never so sweet as in moments of appalling difficulty.”
When you find yourself between sword and sea, remember that difficult times can sensitize us to God’s nearness. He’s never so close as when we’re shipwrecked on omnipotence and driven by despair into His chambers where we find Him “a very present help in trouble” (Ps 46:1)
Envision His enveloping presence, and learn to say, “I will fear no evil, for You are with me”-even in dark valleys and by hostile seas.
Cited From: Morgan, R. J. (2001). The Red Sea Rules: 10 God-given strategies for difficult times. Thomas Nelson.
