MOVE ON

..."Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on." - Exodus 14:15

Moses had brought the whole nation of Israel, approximately 600,000, to
a dead end in the desert. The only thing between Israel and Pharaoh's
pursuing army was the Red Sea. This was after nine plagues God had
inflicted on Pharaoh to motivate him to free the Israelites. Finally,
Pharaoh had freed Moses and the people, and they left Egypt. They
thought they were home free. "Freedom at last," they said. But God did a
strange thing. He directed Moses to take a route that led to the Red
Sea, instead of the northern route around the Red Sea. God explained
that He didn't want them fighting the enemies they would have
encountered on this route. But still, there was the issue of the Red
Sea.
They finally arrived at the Red Sea, and the people were wondering where
they would go from there. News hit the camp: Pharaoh had changed his
mind. He was coming after them with his army. Panic set in. The
defenseless Israelites cried out, "Was it because there were no graves
in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?...It would have been
better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Ex.
14:11b-12)
God sometimes brings each of us to a "Red Sea" in our life. It may be a
work problem that can't be solved. It may be a marriage that seems to be
failing. It may be a debilitating disease. Whatever your Red Sea, God
tells us one thing: "Keep moving." The Red Sea was before them, yet God
was angered at Moses and told him to "Keep moving."
"But Lord, the Red Sea is before me." "Keep moving." When we live by
sight, we act on what we see. God sets this stage in dramatic fashion.
God is into the dramatic. There is no way out without God here. That is
just the way He wants it. No one will get glory except God.
A friend once admonished me when I was in the midst of a marriage
separation, "You must not withdraw from
being proactive in your faith just because of this trial that you are
in. God's hand is on your life. There are too many who are depending on
you to fulfill the purposes God has in your life. Keep moving! Keep
investing yourself in others." I didn't feel like it. I was in too much
pain. But I did it anyway. God met me at the point of my greatest need
once I decided simply to be obedient. Getting past myself by investing
myself in others helped heal the pain. There is great healing when we
look past our own problems and seek to invest ourselves in others for
the sake of Christ. This is when our own Red Seas become parted. We
begin to walk to freedom. But we will never experience the miracle of
the Red Sea in our lives if we don't first "Keep moving."