Exodus 14:27-30
27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. 28The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
Ever feel caught between a rock and a hard place? Some of us may be feeling that way right now. We all do at some time or another. Middle aged adults feel squeezed between the demands of career and children and aging parents. Middle school students feel the pinch of adolescent. Middle class Americans feel the pressure of trying to live within our means while finding ourselves at the edge of our credit limits. Many of us sometimes feel like we are struggling through life mired in the mud of mediocrity. Being in the middle is seldom a pleasant place to be.
The Bible reminds us of a time when the Hebrews felt caught in the middle. They found themselves trapped in the middle between Pharaoh and the Red Sea. With the desperation and terror in their hearts and minds, they grumbled at Moses for having brought them out of slavery only to lead them into slaughter. Faced with no way to fight and nowhere to run, their fate seemed sealed and their doom certain.
Nevertheless, if the scripture teaches us anything, it is that the future of God’s people rests in the hands of the living God. If God is for you, No man can stand against you. What is your Red Sea? What has you trapped in a hopeless situation and you feel that there is no way out? Christians finds themselves in situations everyday. Maybe it is a wife who has been faithful to God and to her husband for years, frantic for her husband’s attention that is lacking because he does not love her as God says he should, aware of her aging body and fading physical attraction, throws discretion to the wind and has an affair. A Christian man, tired of his unsuccessful search for a believing mate, finally gives in a and marries either a non-believer or a woman with dubious faith that really is not faith at all. A Christian teenager, exasperated by the apparent inconsistencies in their parents, rebels, starts taking drugs and sleeping around.
Many of us are trapped between a rock and a hard place. We are caught between righteousness and sin! The people of God in today’s scripture walked on dry ground onward from destruction to deliverance, from slaughter to salvation, from a place of despair into a land of promise. Today, people of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, too is alive and among us right now in the middle of what every you are going through. When Jesus stepped out of that empty tomb, he did so in order to lead us away from this pressure-packed and life- threatening middle ground onto the high, dry ground of divine presence, promise, and grace. It is God calling us to walk with him on the high, dry ground between sin and death! Let us each join Jesus faithfully and joyfully claiming this high, dry ground of his everlasting true word as our chosen path. AMEN!
Have a blessed week!
Adapted By: Elder Michael L. Hargett
27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. 28The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
Ever feel caught between a rock and a hard place? Some of us may be feeling that way right now. We all do at some time or another. Middle aged adults feel squeezed between the demands of career and children and aging parents. Middle school students feel the pinch of adolescent. Middle class Americans feel the pressure of trying to live within our means while finding ourselves at the edge of our credit limits. Many of us sometimes feel like we are struggling through life mired in the mud of mediocrity. Being in the middle is seldom a pleasant place to be.
The Bible reminds us of a time when the Hebrews felt caught in the middle. They found themselves trapped in the middle between Pharaoh and the Red Sea. With the desperation and terror in their hearts and minds, they grumbled at Moses for having brought them out of slavery only to lead them into slaughter. Faced with no way to fight and nowhere to run, their fate seemed sealed and their doom certain.
Nevertheless, if the scripture teaches us anything, it is that the future of God’s people rests in the hands of the living God. If God is for you, No man can stand against you. What is your Red Sea? What has you trapped in a hopeless situation and you feel that there is no way out? Christians finds themselves in situations everyday. Maybe it is a wife who has been faithful to God and to her husband for years, frantic for her husband’s attention that is lacking because he does not love her as God says he should, aware of her aging body and fading physical attraction, throws discretion to the wind and has an affair. A Christian man, tired of his unsuccessful search for a believing mate, finally gives in a and marries either a non-believer or a woman with dubious faith that really is not faith at all. A Christian teenager, exasperated by the apparent inconsistencies in their parents, rebels, starts taking drugs and sleeping around.
Many of us are trapped between a rock and a hard place. We are caught between righteousness and sin! The people of God in today’s scripture walked on dry ground onward from destruction to deliverance, from slaughter to salvation, from a place of despair into a land of promise. Today, people of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, too is alive and among us right now in the middle of what every you are going through. When Jesus stepped out of that empty tomb, he did so in order to lead us away from this pressure-packed and life- threatening middle ground onto the high, dry ground of divine presence, promise, and grace. It is God calling us to walk with him on the high, dry ground between sin and death! Let us each join Jesus faithfully and joyfully claiming this high, dry ground of his everlasting true word as our chosen path. AMEN!
Have a blessed week!
Adapted By: Elder Michael L. Hargett
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