Of all the battle scenes in the Old Testament, the account of the Israelites pressed up against the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his army closing in on them is my favorite -- not because I enjoy the seeming impossibility of their situation but because I love watching the Lord's miraculous deliverance. Based on all human reasoning, their position is one of utter defeat. If they move forward they are certain to drown in the sea, and if they turn back they'll be destroyed by the Egyptians or taken back into slavery. But what looks like a place of hopelessness and complete loss to human eyes is the very spot where God intends to show his glory so that everyone will know that he alone is the Lord (Exodus 14:4).
As we look at the details of this epic war story, it's clear that God is not just one of the officers in the battle, he's the Commanding General and the Colonel of the Israelites -- the Warrior King who strategizes and implements every aspect of the battle. Even on the enemy lines, he is at work powerfully hardening Pharaoh's heart so that he and his army shift from peaceful surrender to pursuit (14:4). As a result, he reverses his decision to let the Israelites go, realizing he has lost all of his slave labor and the ability to prosper. Taking up 600 of his best chariots, he and the army march out after the Israelites in what seems to be an easy takeover (14:7-9). They just have no idea Who they are up against!
When the Israelites look up and see this mighty army marching toward them "They were terrified" (10). Their immediate response in fear is to second guess Moses', and ultimately God's, decision to take them out of the land and deliver them from slavery. In their reasoning, it is better to be a living slave nation than a dead one, and they want to go back and serve the Egyptians. Moses, however, is filled with faith and courage, enabling him to see the same situation from God's perspective as he commands them, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (13:14).
Even after Moses expresses confidence in God's military power and promises, he continues praying, crying out for help. God stops him and says it's time to "move on": "Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground" (14:15-16). He assures him again that he will receive glory through this victory so that the Egyptians, who were living in hardened unbelief, will finally know that he alone is God (14:18). He strategically directs the angel of the Lord to fall behind them and places the cloud behind them as well to cause darkness to fall over the Egyptians, while allowing light to illumine the path of the Israelites (14:19-20).
In faith, Moses holds out his staff as commanded, and God sends a powerful wind to drive back the sea on both sides and dry up the seabed so that all the Israelites can pass through (21). As the Egyptians are in pursuit of them, the Lord brings confusion over the army, even causing the wheels to fall off their chariots. It becomes evident that they are not fighting a regular battle but a supernatural one against the Warrior King and they testify to this saying, "The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt" (25). God causes the powerful rushing waters to "flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horseman" (26), drowning them in the sea so that not even one man survives (28). Meanwhile, all the Israelites are safe on shore, where they begin celebrating God's power and glory as their deliverer and defender and "put their trust in him and in Moses his servant" (14:31).
After reading this account again today I am wonderfully reminded that there is never any reason to fear the opposition as long as I'm standing in God's protective shelter and trusting in his deliverance. I can in confidence know that he is the same Warrior King who goes to battle today just as he did thousands of years ago when he fought for Israel. He's able to harden the hearts of the wicked so that they hotly pursue his people, seeking to destroy them, while at the same time commanding "his angels" to guard and hold his beloved in his hands so that they do not "strike [their] foot against a stone" (Psalm 91:11-12). This gives me confidence to continue crying out for God's help in prayer, knowing that the Lord will fight for me, and I only need to remain still (Exodus 14:13-14).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtvQNzPHn-w
