As Bee led me down the beach, her raised tail and upright body demonstrated to me that she was enjoying the sea breeze and the last of the warm fall temperatures. She even loved the feel of the sand underneath her paws. But the one thing she did not enjoy was the sensation of the cold ocean water as it drenched her without warning.
Bee seemed so confident on dry land but just the brush of the cold ocean water repelled her towards the higher sandy beach and the safety that I had to offer. Aren’t we all like her in a way? When all the conditions of life are to our satisfaction, we appear so confident. But once the cold unpleasant experiences surface, we run towards the comfort that we enjoy?
The Israelites are a perfect picture of how humanity reacts when the waves of life come lapping at our feet. God had just redeemed them from a life of slavery and was leading them out into an unknown existence. The Israelites were in high spirits during their first few miles of their journey but then when they heard the chariots of the Egyptians come out of nowhere, they were terrified and faithless.
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.” (Exodus 14:21-22)
God had to create an impossible situation in order for His power to be exemplified. The Israelites had already gone through a night where the angel of death had killed all the first born of the Egyptians but even so, they needed to see an unexplained supremacy take control of the physical world. And that is what God gave them.
After Bee shook the water off, she continued to walk down the beach with a confident air. On the other hand, I looked out over the ocean and waves and was struck by its enormity and force. Thankfully, God didn’t cause the ocean water to stand straight up as I walked the beach. He didn’t have to. Just knowing his word and what he has done in the past is enough to believe that He could.
