Sunday Devotional: Exodus 14:16

“Raise up your staff and spread your hand over the sea and split it, and the sons of Israel will go in the midst of the sea on dry land.”

The people of Israel have escaped Egypt and, under the Lord’s direction, Moses has brought them to the Red Sea. With Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit, all seems lost. They are trapped, and after all that has happened, it is unlikely Pharaoh will show them much mercy. “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” they complain. But God hadn’t finished with them. His hand is orchestrating events to bring His people to this place. After all, it was the Lord who hardened Pharaoh’s heart to go after the Israelites when they escaped, and it was the Lord who told Moses to lead them to this place. In God’s plan, what looked to Israel like their ultimate defeat was to become their ultimate victory.

The story of the Exodus is one of the most important narratives in the entire Bible. Not only does it show God’s faithfulness to His people, but it is a foreshadowing of the gospel. We can explore that another time. Today, I want to hone in on this one verse and what it tells us about God’s sovereignty and our responsibility. For full transparency, I was inspired by a comment made by Voddie Baucham in a recent interview with the Babylon Bee, which I encourage you to watch (I’ll link to it below).

As I said, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he wouldn’t just let Israel leave. Pharaoh no doubt wanted revenge for the plagues inflicted upon his land and his subjects. Meanwhile, God told Moses to lead Israel to the shores of the Red Sea. The Lord was, effectively, trapping His people between a vast expanse of water and Pharaoh’s troops. There was no way out for them. They didn’t have the weapons or manpower to fight, and the sea was too wide for them to swim. Joy at their escape quickly turned to despair. Why did they ever leave Egypt? Wouldn’t it have been better to die in Egypt as slaves rather than die in the wilderness?

To his credit, Moses tried to encourage them saying God will fight for them. His faith in the Lord’s ability to do something was unshaken, though he seemed to expect they would have to stand their ground and fight. But the Lord says to Moses: “Why are you crying out to me?” Did He hear in Moses’s exhortation a prayer, or a plea, for God to fight for them? Whether or not, the Lord had no intention of pitting Israel in armed conflict against Pharaoh. Instead, He told Moses to instruct the people to go forward–that is, to keep walking toward the sea.

If you’re familiar with the Exodus story, you know what happened next. God parted the sea, the people walked through on dry ground, and once they were safely on the other side He allowed Pharaoh’s army to follow after them. He then stalled the Egyptians in the midst of the sea and collapsed the waters, drowning them all.

But notice, God didn’t just part the sea, though He certainly could have. He told Moses to raise his staff and spread his hand. Moses had probably been carrying this wooden staff around with him for years. He might have used it as a walking stick and not given much thought to its importance. But God chose to use the rod in Moses’s hand to accomplish His purposes. He would work a miracle in the life of Moses and the people of Israel, and all He asked of Moses was to be faithful with the resources God had placed in his hands.

Do you feel trapped, weighed down, as if there’s no hope for you in your situation? Maybe you’re having financial struggles, relationship issues, or mental health problems for which there seems no way out. You feel like the Israelites, caught between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea, with no clear means of escape. You know the Lord can provide that escape, just as He rescued Israel. But maybe the Lord has you in this situation that He might be glorified in the way you use the resources He has given you. Are you being faithful with all that you have, whether that’s time, money, tools, skills, or even friends or your church, or are you waiting for God to part the Red Sea for you while you watch from the sidelines?

I’m not saying God won’t intervene and work a miracle in your life. But before we call on the Lord to fight our battles, perhaps we should consider how He might want us to use the staff in our hands.