Daily Thought for: 13th January

FEAR YE NOT, STAND STILL, AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD

Exodus 14. 1-14

The great pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan had begun, but already there were problems. Getting out of Egypt was one thing, and by the blood of the lamb and the strength of His hand, Jehovah had ordered it all and had brought the people safely out from their bondage. For a little while all was well and now they encamped by the shores of the Red Sea.

Meantime, an enraged Pharaoh was full of remorse at what had happened. Had they really allowed these slaves to flee Egypt? Had there been no attempt to stop them? Of course, it was understandable that in their hour of mourning, with the firstborn of every house dead, they had been occupied with their own sorrows and not with the flight of the slaves. Now, as things settled, they began to ask, ‘Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?’ They must be pursued!

With Pharaoh’s personal chariot in the lead and with hun­dreds of Egypt’s chariots thundering after, they followed the Israel hosts until they saw them camped by the sea.

When the beleaguered children of Israel realised their plight, then came the fear, the mistrust, and the unbelief which was to characterise them for years to come. Poor Moses carried the bur­den of it. As they would do again and again in their journeys, they blamed him. Had he brought them into this wilderness to die? Were there no graves in Egypt? Would they not have been better alive as slaves rather than perish in the desert?

Their position was indeed perilous. With the sea before them, and Pharaoh’s hosts behind them, escape seemed impos­sible. It was then that Moses challenged and charged them, ‘Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord’. Would He who had delivered them from bondage allow them to perish now? Never! He rolled back the sea until His people had safely passed over, and then, when the Egyptians assayed to follow, He rolled the waves upon them, drowning Pharaoh and his hosts and chariots in the depths. What a picture of the security of every believer in the Lord Jesus! We are destined for glory and are kept by the power of God for our inheritance.