Beauty in the Red Sea

I am supposed to be packing right now, but the idea of God providing for His children through the Red Sea has plagued me for a few days now, so I am finally taking sometime to flesh this out. 
Below I have linked to the full context. I pray this blesses your heart and challenges you as much as it does me.


Exodus 13:17-14:31
17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt."

Let's camp out here for a moment. It's kind of hard to imagine being enslaved for 400yrs and even considering going back. This is a people who cried out to God for 400yrs for freedom and He has now delivered them and they are considering returning to captivity? 

Even though they were enslaved, they'd been that way for 400yrs. That's all they knew. Even though they were oppressed they knew what to expect day in and day out. They knew how to survive.  Change is scary. The unknown is scary. Even when you're coming out of slavery.

Galatians 5:1 NIV It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

This is one reason it is so hard to let go of sin. I don't take it lightly that the bible says we are "slaves to sin." Romans 6:20, John 8:34-36
It is our very nature. It comes naturally. It's like telling a dog to be a cat. Without the radical power of God and the change He creates in our lives, it is impossible to fight this battle against sin in our own strength.
¹⁸But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.....²¹And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²²The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Day or night, His presence never left them.

Exodus 14

Crossing the Red Sea

 ¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²"Tell the people of Israel to^(AF) turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between^(AG) Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. ³For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, 'They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.'

⁴And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD."

What we may see as a difficult trial, God sees as an opportunity to make Himself known!

And they did so.
 ⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" ⁶So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, ⁷and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. ⁸And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. ⁹The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

You see the bible mention Pharaoh's horses, chariots, horsemen and Army had come and surrounded the Israelites.  They had been intimidated for hundreds of years by these things. Kind of like if we had the IRS and the government after us and there was a Federal warrant out for our arrest. This was terrifying to say the least.  They hadn't stood a chance against Pharaoh's chariots for 400yrs, what made them think they stood a chance now?  Do you think God wanted them to think they stood a chance...?

 ¹⁰When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. ¹¹They said to Moses,

"Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

Again, they had cried out to God for help for 400yrs. Had finally been delivered.  They had seen the 10 plagues fulfilled in their presence. They have been saved from the death angel, and are being led by a cloud during the day and Fire by night.  Yet, here comes opposition and their first chance to trust and they crumble.

Sidenote:
Just because you've never been blessed to see God move that way doesn't mean He won't. 
Far from it. He actually seems to revel in taking us down a funky, scary path in order to reveal Himself in a Greater way! 
You just have to look for it and pray for it! "God is always at work around you" - Henry Blackaby

¹³And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."

I am afraid I have missed seeing so many miracles just because I can't shut-up long enough to watch. I am too busy complaining or fearing that I don't see God moving mountains all around me.  I know that happens because there have been so many times that after coming out of my complaining place I look up and say what happened, how did we come out of that?  The Lord moved and I missed it. Can you relate to that?

 ¹⁵The LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and

I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.

¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

Our God is Bigger than our Biggest Fears!

 ¹⁹ Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

God stood between the enemy and His children. I have no words to declare how that blesses my heart. So far we see: God wants to Reveal Himself through our trials, God will Deliver his children, He will Fight for His children and He stands in between them and the enemy!

 ²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. ²²And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, ²⁵clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said,

"Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians."

 ²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.

The Lord revealed Himself to the Egyptians, (His Glory). The Israelites biggest fear, the captors, their oppressors, what they were about to return to out of fear, God CONQUERED it. Not one of them remained.

²⁹But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

 ³⁰Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they

 believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

I can in no way roll my eyes at the Israelites fear. The Lord took them around the desert to the edge of the sea with the Egyptians at their back. They had never been in this place before. They had never seen God's hand move in this type of way. The Lord had led them to a place where it's, "I'm going to be killed, drown, or the Lord is going to move."  So many times the Lord has lead me to that place, and everytime it has been so that He could reveal Himself at a deeper level.

God wants to Reveal Himself through our trials, God will Deliver his children, He will Fight for His children and He stands in between them and the enemy!

Take time to Remember all the times God has parted the Red Sea on your behalf!

Make Room for a Samuel

Make Room for a Samuel

 

As I write this, I know it will be through blurred, teary eyes because this is so precious to me. I have so many friends that cross my mind as I think on this passage and I know that I have many friends that don't immediately cross my mind but this is a direct reflection of their life. Goodness knows how deeply it has effected mine!

1 Samuel 1:1-28, [NAS]

¹ Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³ Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD there.

⁴ When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb.

My friend Lori Akers calls it a God Wink.   Like a subtle smile amongst great distress.  A God wink is when you're going through a trial or a difficult season, and it's almost like you feel the Lord tap you on the shoulder reassuring you of His presence. I see it here, in her husband’s love towards her.  Hannah was so broken. She desired a child desperately, but the Lord had closed her womb.  Not only that, but her precious husband had 2 wives, and Peninnah, the other wife, had children.

⁶ Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. ⁷ It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat.

This is a little off the subject but follow me for a moment. I can’t overlook this part in the story.  Perhaps you have not been "blessed" to know women who are in the flesh and respond to things in their human nature. This is what we tend to do. When we're insecure or we feel threatened we tear each other apart. This is where gossip begins, perceptions of what we think may happen or has happened, our worry, fear and insecurities and the list goes on and on. Without the redemptive power and reliance on Christ we are a wicked, wicked gender.  When we begin to feel threatened, we need to stop in that moment and surrender it.  If we claim to be women of God we must stop this cycle!

This is how Peninnah is responding to towards Hannah. Peninnah knew Hannah was the favorite.

On the other hand, put yourself in Peninnah's shoes for a moment. How threatening do you think it would be to have another woman in your man's life as a marriage partner especially knowing that the "other woman" was his favorite even though you had given him children and Hannah had not? Even though you're doing all the right things, she's still his favorite. Can you feel the bitterness Peninnah has here?

We cannot allow our emotions to rule us.  If we are not reliant on Christ and worshipping Him with our life, which means worshipping Him with our obedient, surrendered and quiet spirit, this is what we do to each other.
It is un-Holy in every way.

⁷ It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

However, “Praise the Lord” that they think differently because this world would not have survived as long.  Instead of having the 194/195 nations we have today can you imagine how many nations we would have? I think every woman would quite possibly have her own. We can be a little nuts. And here is an example of how God created men and their thinking completely different from women's. He so did not "get it".  Can you imagine how alone this made Hannah feel? 

⁹ Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. ¹⁰ She, greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. ¹¹ She made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

¹² Now it came about, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.”

I’m going off subject again here for a moment, but stay with me. 

Isn't it sad that the Priest at the temple was unfamiliar with seeing a broken heart at the alter?

..........Selah..........
Oh, I am so ready for the church to break free from the norm and fall on our faces before a Holy God. How much longer, Church, before we forget worrying about what others might think, and we come to church ready for worship? How long until we shake off our fears of non-conformity and fall head-over-heels in love with Jesus, where no one's opinion matters more than His?

This is in no way a pat on the back to those who do go to a church like this: a church where people aren't afraid to fall on their face at the altar.

This is a question to you. Are you a child of God that can worship God through the singing of biblical Hymns or Praise and Worship or by taking a Hike in the Woods, or by watching the waves crash on the shores. 
The point is,

I don't need a certain style of music or a certain
Atmosphere to worship Yahweh.
My God is God no matter where I am and no matter what situation I'm in
I pray that my life will praise Him!
Paul and Silas worshipped in a Jail Cell

 for crying out loud,
and I'm going to have the audacity to say that I can't Praise Him with a Hymn or while I vacuum the living room for the fifth time that day? 

Are we Praising Him with Our Lives? Are we praising Him while we pack the school lunches or are waiting humbly for a future spouse? Are we praising Him while we vacuum the house?

Have you realized that worship is not just the time of singing before a message on Sunday morning?

In most cases that’s not even worship! 

Worship is living a life in total obedience and surrender to God!  I worship in my biblical submission towards my husband. I worship by the way I pray for the Lord to guard my tongue. I worship when I live my life and in everything I do, I do it unto Him!

Philippians 2:14,

Do everything without grumbling or arguing. (NIV)

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.  (NIV)

¹⁵ But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. ¹⁶ Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ She said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
 ¹⁹ Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah ^[g]had relations with Hannah his wife,

and the LORD remembered her!

Hallelujah! The Lord remembered her, not that He had forgotten her by any means, but that the thought of her crossed His mind, it blows my mind! How humbling it is to know Jehovah God, the maker of the Heavens and the Earth, and I cross His Mind!

You cross His mind. Have you ever felt alone? Forgotten? Well, you can rest assured today that JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, the LORD who is present, has remembered you!  You cross His mind. The bible says we can call Him Abba, Daddy, a dearly loved Father thinks often of His children.

²⁰ It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the LORD.”

Oh, how precious those words are to me! "I have asked for him from the LORD."

Why do you think God allowed Hannah to go through this?

If He had not, do you think that she would have promised Samuel to God?  Do you think that she would have brought him to the temple at 3 years of age, to be brought up in the house of the Lord?  Do you think that she possibly knew what huge plans God had for that Child?  Samuel was the chosen one that ordained David. Really?  Do you think that she had even a clue?  Eli, the current priest, had 2 wicked sons. What would have happened to the priesthood if it hadn't been for Samuel? 

How truly precious is that? How amazing is that? 

Lord, if that be the result of my trial then Your will be done! Trials are a blessing. They are hard at the time, but goodness if they teach me a new truth about God, then I can't measure it's worth.

If my life is laid out for others to view as a testimony of God, there is nothing more I desire from my life!

I want to know Him and to make Him known!

I am so blessed by godly women who have gone through this type of trial, which has brought them to adoption.  They have a broken heart and lonely arms that long for a child and it brings them to adoption. A precious child, a gift from God, and a child whose life is now a testimony to our great God!   A child who would have life but had it not been for adoption would they have been introduced to Christ?

Don't take it lightly that before the foundations of the earth when God thought of that child, He had you on His mind as the parent that child needed!

Don't discount your trials!  If God has allowed sorrow in your life, make room for a Samuel!

²¹ Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD and stay there forever.”

What Character! Hannah had not forgotten her promise to the Lord, even though her promise came at a great price. How many times has the Lord acted on my behalf and immediately I discounted it as coincidence?  Or think, it would have happened anyway?

Oh Lord, may I never look at any circumstance in my life as coincidence! May I always be mindful of Your Lordship, in all things!

²³ Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the LORD confirm His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh, although the child was young. ²⁵ Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ She said, “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the LORD.

²⁷ For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him. ²⁸ So I have also dedicated him to the LORD; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

Oh Lord, I pray that this will be my hearts utmost plea. Lord, You have entrusted me with my children. I pray that I will Honor Your authority over their lives, All the Days of their life!

I pray this blesses you as Radically as it blesses me!