Ever notice that
God leads us towards situations that
tempt us to fear, fret, and be anxious and distressed? He does so purposely, in order to teach us to
trust. We are slow learners, so He repeats those lessons over and over. As I
was reading Exodus, I was struck by how fear and trust were linked. When I am
at peace, without any storms in my life, living life at ease, I don’t need to
trust. When life is difficult, and I am anxious and don’t understand, I need to
learn to trust. And it’s not a one-time thing.
Most of us know
the story of the children of Israel and the parting of the Red Sea. But stop
and read it with an eye toward them learning to trust. It starts well before
they reach the Red Sea. They could have learned it from the plagues. Over and
over those plagues afflicted the Egyptians and by-passed them. They could have
learned it from the Passover, when God provided a way for them to escape the
death of every first born child. They could have learned it as they left Egypt,
and God guided them around the
Philistines, though that was a longer route, because He knew they weren’t ready
for war, and would be tempted to go back to Egypt. There is no denying that He
was leading, with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. I
am sure that they learned to trust Him some, for these were huge things to
face.
But then God does
something very interesting. Exodus 14 tells the story of God instructing Moses
to tell the people to turn back, to a
place where they would be pinned against the Red Sea, facing a very angry
Pharaoh. Verse 4 says that God did this “so that I will gain glory…and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
It would appear that this was His primary purpose, but what about the
Israelites? They had to be at least mildly scared to death, wouldn’t you think?
It’s a good reminder that God is sovereign, and that it’s not always about us.
That God can accomplish things in several people at once. The Egyptians would
learn who was really God. And the Israelites would learn to trust at a much
deeper level than they could have without being put in that seemingly
impossible situation.
Many Christians
today think that they are assured peace and a life of ease. We can all slip
into that thinking without realizing it. Scripture repeatedly shows a much
different picture. God could have continued to lead the Israelites away from
danger. But it would have denied them the opportunity to learn to trust. He is
much more interested in our character than He is in our comfort.
Believe me when I
say that I fail to learn this more often than you can imagine. I know it, and
so does He. So He leads me back again, with tender hands placing me in those
circumstances that seem so painful and impossible. Because He loves me. Because
He knows the importance of me trusting Him.
