Exodus 14:21a Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, (The Israelites now confronted the Red Sea after a long day of continuing their march through the desert and had expected to camp and rest for the night. As they faced the Red Sea before them, they had to be unsure of tomorrow's direction and to wonder what Moses had in store for them now. Beyond that, little did they expect to see the dust of the Egyptian army stirring up in the distance as the army raced to recapture and punish God's people. Now, instead of making camp after a long day of foot travel, they had to pick up their belongings and begin an all-night march into what appeared to be certain drowning. While God executed the plan of escape, He also required Moses to act and invited him to participate in the miracle of this deliverance. Although God could have whisked the people across to the other side of the sea in a miraculous and instant transport, instead, as He often does, He chooses to use a process of deliverance so that His people can fully experience the wonder of His victory over the powers arrayed against His people.) and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. (In fact, He uses natural means to create an unnatural setting. The winds must have been staggering to have rolled back the waters and to dry out the mud floor to make it dry land for the people to cross. The Lord still invites us into the process He chooses in which to unveil His miracle of deliverance for us. When we feel the most trapped, when the situation looks the bleakest, that's the very moment that the Lord is doing His greatest work. He delivers us time after time, and still we become fear-filled when we can't see a way out before us. Whatever we face before us today, however impossible seems an escape, the Lord has called us to stretch out our hand over this sea and to watch what He does as we move forward into the path He opens for us.)
