I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters,
making a dry path through the sea.
(Isaiah 43:16, NLT)
God came at just the right moment for the Israelites.
They were in big trouble! When they had escaped from slavery in Egypt, a great future lay in front of them but, as they headed on towards that future, they were haunted by their past, chased by their past. In fact, their past, in the shape of the Egyptian army, was hot on their heels, determined to pull them back. Then their future seemed to be cut off too – the sea was blocking their way.
Stand at the coast and look at the sea in front of you. You don’t have a boat handy, no hovercraft, helicopter, no bridge – nothing that this world can offer as a “solution.”
How would you feel if crossing the sea was the only way out?
The past has a nasty habit of catching up on us, rushing up behind us, trying to drag us back. Too often we look to the things of this world to get us out of it – money, drink, holidays, sex, shopping, drugs – the list is endless, and none of them can really deal with it. If we can cross our sea on a big, fancy bridge, then so can the past that haunts us. We can try doing it on our own, but there are few swimmers who can make it all the way across a sea.
Maybe you are at a sea now, maybe the past is catching up with you. You just can’t shake it off, and now you have run out of options. There is a way out, you know. There is a way into a good future, a life of freedom from fear, depression, loneliness, addiction – whatever it is that wants you back as a slave! Stand at the sea and cry out to God! Ask him to part the waters! Ask him to show you the path, the way through!
The Israelites were shown the way through the sea and crossed to the other side. Their pursuers were drowned as the sea crashed in on them. Your enemy can be drowned in the sea that you cross.
Cry out to God now! Jesus is the way through!