Mountains and valleys...

    I must admit, this post has been a bit of a challenge to write. Sometimes the words flow, other times they don’t. This is one of those times when the words were not quite flowing. Even though I tried to change my train of thought, I can’t help but come right back to what I have writing about in my past two posts.
    When you picture a valley, you may picture mountains on either side. We can speak of mountain top experiences which speak of victory, and we can contrast these with valley experiences which may denote challenges. But, mountains can also represent challenges, insurmountable challenges that are difficult to overcome. It’s difficult to go around them, over them or even through them. At the end of the day, the only One to help us is God.
    As I recall once again the journey of the Israelites through the Red Sea (Exodus 14), that body of water was like a mountain; it was an insurmountable obstacle that they could not possibly overcome on their own. They needed help … big time! God did not fail them. No, He didn’t want to carry them through any other route because He wanted them to see His might and power. He wanted them to experience Him in a great and supernatural way - as if the ten plagues He had sent in Egypt weren’t enough! He knew the challenges they would face in the wilderness and they needed to have confidence that the God who was leading them would lead them safely. This Red Sea miracle would just do the trick.
    They couldn’t move that body of water out of the way. That wasn’t God’s plan anyway. He was going to do something different, something that had never been done before - He was going to make a way through the problem. So, He didn’t move the mountain but He parted it. All through the night, the winds blew until the waters had heaped up on either side and a clear path appeared down the middle (vv. 21-22). I picture it as God creating a safe valley for His people to walk through while the waters were heaped up on either side of them like a mountain. The interesting thing is, no matter how much the waters may have wanted to, they could not move from the place where God had put them to reach out and touch God’s people. The obstacle had not moved away, but to the side, making a way for God’s people to pass! 
    Sometimes, God may not move the problem out of the way but He will make a way through it so that you can get safely to the other side. He will cause it to move to the side so you can safely continue your journey. And get this - while you are walking through, it cannot touch you, it cannot harm you and it most certainly CANNOT stop you! The enemy may intend for it to hinder you, even destroy you, but God knows how to deal with our challenges so that they cannot fulfil their desired purpose. God’s purpose for us will still prevail!
    Only God can do such an impossible thing as part a Red Sea. Only God can make our problems stand at attention, watching helplessly as we pass through them…safely! Only God! It’s up to us to keep our eyes fixed on Him, trusting that He will bring us through again and again without fail.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. Mountains and valleys are a part of normal life. We need to be connected to a God who can help us safely navigate those mountain-valley experiences; a God who can make an impossible way safely through to the other side.
​

---