Harnessed

The sun shone brightly as children giggled and chased one another through the caravans. Even the elders seemed to have a spring in their step as they finally left Egypt behind. They had left with a high hand, having endured the worst suffering humanity can impose upon one another. Nothing, it seemed, could hinder the spirit of jubilation during those days of release as they trekked toward the Promise.

Nothing, it seemed, could hinder the spirit of jubilation during those days of release as they trekked toward the Promise.

Genessa Torsy

But suddenly, the jubilant sounds of singing and the excited din of voices began to shift. Somewhere, in the back of the crowd, cries of despair rang out. As people are wont to do, person after person turned to see a horrifying sight: the army of Pharaoh in hot pursuit, driving their horses faster and faster, kicking up sand into angry swirls as they barreled toward the Children of Israel.

Panicked, the people began to rush about, but there was no escape. To the North was Mount Migdol, often used as a watchtower by the Egyptians; to the South and East, the mighty Red Sea. They were trapped!

In their haste, they quickly forgot the ten plagues that had showcased God’s matchless power over the elements. Not one is recorded as saying, “Be still. Remember the saving hand of God!”

It was a moment like so many of us experience where you’ve seen the hand of God work before, but in the current circumstance, the odds seem so insurmountable that you find yourself crying out, “God! Where are you?”

In answer, God instructed Moses to stretch forth his rod over the Red Sea, but the waves didn’t part. In fact, nothing of note happened that day. Faces fell as they gathered their families for nightfall. Instead of an answer, a strong East wind blew all night long. The Hebrews frantically scrambled to shelter their children and flocks against the tumultuous drafts.

It would have seemed that all was against them: trapped by the sea and the mountains, snared by Pharaoh, in darkness in a strange land, and now even the weather pummeled them. Even God seemed not to answer as they struggled to hold a shelter over their heads in the blowing sand. But, as we know, it was that “final straw,” that strong East wind that peeled back the layers of the sea before them!

The next morning, the Children of Israel walked across upon dry ground. Imagine the glee on their faces as they beheld a hundred feet of water, fish swimming in the depths… at eye level! The children pranced as their parents’ curses from the night before turned into cautious praise.

It was then, midway through the sea bed, that cries of panic once again rang through the throngs of people. Pharaoh had been unleashed! He and his army of chariots were charging through the same pathway that had brought salvation only moments before.

Suddenly, the walls of water that once were a wonder became “a wall to them,” restricting their movements (Ex. 14:29). They could not run to the left or to the right. They could find no hiding place. They could only quicken their pace and run for the shore. How soon the miracle had become a wall in their eyes!

But why the mountain? Why the sea? Why the walls of water? Exodus 13:18 tells us: “But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.”

Harnessed…

The stone of Mount Migdol was not the enemy. The mighty East wind was not of demonic origin. And the walls of water were not a trap. They were all the reins of God leading His people through a miracle in process! Trust the reins! They are part of the Process from Promise to Possession!

Trust the reins! They are part of the Process from Promise to Possession!

Genessa Torsy