The Sea

It can be so easy to lose focus when walking on the path of obedience.  I understand why Paul was so adamant about his own struggle with sin in Romans when he speaks of he knows what to do and doesn't do it or knows what not to do and still proceeds doing so.  It's those distractions, those hooks of sin that can draw us back into the worlds in which we used to live.  The worlds that would make us spiral out of control into darkness, shame and sin.

I was listening to a service in the series called "Turning the Tide" the other day and Matt and Doug were speaking about the crossing of the Red Sea.  It made me stop and think about what that must have been like.  To have the Egyptian army, THE ENTIRE EGYPTIAN ARMY, the most feared army in the world at that time, with all their chariots, elite soldiers and infantry men, all the generals, commanders, sergeants, bearing down on you and there the entire nation of Israel was smack dab up against the Red Sea.  Any diversion around it would have been deadly as they would have been flanked by the corners.

Their hope was to live free, out of Egyptian captivity.  They had escaped and come this far.  Only to be in sink or swim situation, literally.

It was sure death.  No way out.  Trapped.

Imagine living your whole life in the desert land of Egypt.  The only skill you had was brick building, a skill that you had incredible talent since the ingredients were constantly changing.  I'm sure you dreamed about water, a lot, but had never actually thought you'd be faced up between a sea on one side and a raving mad army on the other, let alone ever swim in a body of water.

Now you and a whole nation are faced up against a do or die situation, sink or swim.  Then God steps in.  It's easy for us to look back and say, look at how awesome God was at that time.  He split the sea through the command of Moses and the sea parted and the land dried up, allowing the weary nation to move on.  It's easy to look back, but at the time, I'm sure they were scared to death, caught up in the moment, paralyzed in their own power. 

You know how that feels, right?

I need to reflect on two points.

First, the Red Sea parted down the middle and they watched it happen.  It would be like me walking outside, seeing that it is raining out, expecting to get wet, but not getting wet because wherever I moved an invisible barrier was over the top of me.  That would be a miracle, an unexpected miracle.  A nice miracle but still unexpected.  God moved an ENTIRE BODY OF WATER through his servant Moses out of necessity for escape and freedom.  The crazy thing is, the entire nation walked through the body, partly out of pure panic of having the strongest army ever known on your tail, partly out of being crazy (who walks into an ocean?), but mostly out of faith.  True this wasn't their first miracle (remember the plagues and the escape in general), but still talk about having huge faith.  There was no guarantee that the Sea wouldn't come crashing in, but by faith they walked through.  Even though moments before they considered giving up and going back into captivity to face who knows what type of brutality, the entire nation held onto faith that their one true Abba Father God would carry them through.  They kept the dream alive, and God kept them alive. 

The whole nation of Israel experienced a miracle in real time, as it happened.

Second, what do you picture when you see the Red Sea parting?  I'm sorry but I usually see this tiny deer path opening up, just enough to let one person through at time in a single file line.  I bet that is what you think, too, and that is OK.  However, when you start to realize how much LOVE, real LOVE, God had for his people, the picture in my mind expanded greatly.  In fact, only now as I write I really see the true picture of what happened. THE RED SEA PARTED!!  A great wall of water ripped apart, split down the middle with such violent force it dried the land underfoot and made more than enough room for the entire nation of Israel, all their livestock, and all their goods and plunder was able to pass through.  Again, all of this happened right then and there, no one expected it like that. 

When God works miracles, they are not begrudgingly small inconveniences, just-enough-to-get-by occurrences.  They are acts of crazy, head-over-heels love for you and me.

Could you imagine walking through a dried up sea with the walls of the sea towering far, far, far above head?  We're talking cubits (to speak biblically) above!  It would be easy to say you'd keep purposefully walking, especially in the deep of the sea, because you never know when the walls of water will come violently come crashing back.  But do we?  Do we keep purposefully moving forward, even in the middle of our parted seas?  As the world throws us turbulent times and as we continue our walk of obedience, are we always intentional and focused on the main goal?  Do we keep our faith or act out of fear that the sea will come crashing back down at any moment.  Do we keep moving out of Godly fear and reverence of his love, or do we take our time, lose focus, and pick up sea shells and fossils along the way? 

I know I would have had one heck of a time moving forward.  I would want to start collecting those sea shells and fossils, as my attention span would start to wane.  Or I'd want to rest and stop moving, and take a seat up against the solid water wall and nap a bit.  Again, I think this little deer trail opened, the nation of Israel took two steps and they were on the Saudi Arabia side.

NO!  The RED SEA parted!  It would take days and days, night after night, to cross.

Talk about focus and determination that God would get them through!  So where are you on your walk lately?  Are there turbulent issues going on in your life and you're stacked up against a Sea and the enemy of your life?  Do you feel that you're walking a tightrope down the middle of the Sea waiting for the walls to come crashing in and drown you at any time?  Or are you on the other side, being patent and faithful in your God, watching the turbulent times become destroyed as you look back, see how big your Abba Father is, praise him and claim victory, only to find yourself in another desert?  Only pleading with God to take you back to where you came from, even if it meant captivity to sin and death, because it is "safe" and "normal"?  After all, you've grown accustomed to heartache, loneliness, depravity of soul, and the numbness that came with living in captivity to sin.

I know from experience.  This was my life.  Always looking back, longing for the old days, even when death and destruction were immense and heavy.  I lost focus many times in the middle of escape, looking for sea shells, fossils and a place to rest and numb out rather than continue moving in obedience toward God and His plan for your life.  Once I reached the other side, I longed to go back to captivity, remembering all the good times of living in sin, when in reality they were soul crushing in heavy.  I chose to stop and not move once I reached the other side of the Sea, even though Jesus Christ destroyed my enemies and sin, washed them all away, and claimed victory over my former ways.  It was in this time of disobedience when I fell into my darkest and most secret of secret worlds.  The one that brought crippling death and sorrow into my life and marriage.

I chose to go back to death.  I chose depression and the heaviness that brought.  Only Jesus saved me again!  Now I live free in obedience to Christ, and living out who I’m supposed to be!  Living a life and marriage restored in Christ!

So I'm going to ask again.  Where are you in your path?  What are you holding onto that's keeping you in captivity or living in a fantasy of living the dream of the past?  Why are you holding back from God and his plan of a more and better life?

I love you,

Ken

Update

I know I haven't shared in a while, but that doesn't mean God isn't working out a perfect plan and path for my next few series of posts.  He is definitely marinating things on my heart that are worth sharing, but they aren't quite ready.  I am still praying for and love all of you who read this.

Maybe this timing is just as much for you as it is for me, so you can have the chance to read past posts and really start applying them to your life.  Ask God today how Jesus can set you free and show you where you need the Dunamis power of the Holy Spirit to work in your life and heal past wounds.

Take these next 40 days post Easter, to really focus on what matters most in your life.  It wasn't the 40 days building up to Easter or Passover that changed the history of man forever, it was the resurrection that changed history and the next 40 days that changed humanity.

I Love You,

Ken