Safe while you wait

    Recently, I was pondering the Red Sea parting in Exodus 14. As a child, the cartoons I watched on the story showed an immediate parting of the waters when Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. But, when I examined the text, verse 21 says that when Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, during the course of the night, a strong east wind blew, drove the sea back and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided and became a wall on either side of the dry path.
    I found that interesting because the Bible also says that the Israelites could see the Egyptians marching towards them. They, of course, became terrified and began to complain to Moses. The Lord instructed Moses what to do and in the meantime, He did something interesting. As the people moved forward, the angel of the Lord and the pillar of cloud that was in front of them guiding them, moved to the back of them. These were now positioned between the Israelites and the Egyptians. As if that wasn’t enough, throughout the night, that cloud prevented the two sides from connecting with each other (vv.19-20).
    I love the image that comes to my mind as I recall this story. While the Israelites waited for God to make a way for them through that Red Sea, He protected them from their enemies. Let’s be real. Their enemies were literally right behind them. I am sure they could have easily reached out and touched them. Yet, God prevented that from happening. Think about it. While you wait for your deliverance to come, for God to make a way, God is protecting you, He is keeping you. We may panic because we feel as if the problem will destroy us and we will never make it. That’s how the Israelites must have felt. Their enemies were right there. Would they ever be able to escape and make it to safety? 
    When you think about it, the Lord took hours to part that body of water (v.21). He could have taken minutes, I am sure, but the Israelites had to wait some hours before deliverance could come. To them, those hours may have seemed like an eternity. Isn’t that how it feels to us at times while we wait on God to come through for us? “How long Lord?” is probably a common cry for many. We wonder when will the pain end, when will the trauma end, when will deliverance come, when will complete healing take place. Waiting is never easy for anyone and although the Israelites had to wait some hours, those hours must have felt like an eternity. What made it worse was that their “problem” was so close to them they could probably pretty much reach out and touch them. Maybe some of us can relate?
    Yet, no matter how close their enemies were, God was even closer. He was the one preventing any actual connection between the two sides. I believe that was a miracle in itself. The Red Sea parting was one miracle, but God preventing His people’s enemies from being able to even reach out and touch them while they waited for Him to make a way of escape for them, was another miracle.
    Believe it or not, even though it doesn’t seem so, God is protecting and keeping you while you wait. Sometimes, you may feel as if you’re not going to make it but you will. God seems to be taking so long to answer, so long to deliver you, that you may feel that the “Egyptians” will certainly be able to reach you and destroy you. But guess what? God did not allow that to happen to the Israelites, He will not allow that to happen to you. Just as He literally had their back while the Red Sea was being parted, He will also have your back while you wait for your season of testing to come to an end. While you wait, you are safe!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God is very much a present help when you are in trouble. However, He isn’t just present, He is right there protecting and keeping you while you wait for your salvation, for your deliverance to finally come.

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