Exodus 14: 15 – 16, 21
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.”
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.
So, my question is, “Who parted the Red Sea?” Was it Moses or was it God?
Throughout Biblical history God has raised up people through whom He could move. Or perhaps it is more accurate that He has searched and found a person of faith through whom He could work. God waited for Moses to be ready. Why didn’t God free His people Israel 30 years earlier? He needed a person He could work with.
Now, I am not saying that God cannot intervene directly in the lives of people but if you look at the historical record you will see that is not His typical method. In Genesis, God gave the earth to mankind and He has respected that this is our planet. He has, by His own decisions and His covenant with mankind, limited His direct involvement in the affairs of men. So many times people wonder why God has not taken some action or another. There would be the answer. He has given this earth to us and He gave us the authority to govern it.
It is important for us to understand that God has given us a role to play in this earth. It is not true that our only job is to pray for Him to move in the earth. That is a great thing to do, and I wish that everyone prayed daily. The truth is, though, that the sea did not part until Moses raised his staff. You see, God combines His power with our obedience and faith and creates a miracle. We need to see that we are a vital part of the equation though. Even Jesus could not perform miracles where there was no faith. We see this in the book of Matthew where it reads, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13: 58). Even Jesus was limited by the doubt and unbelief of the people and He was walking there right in their midst. How much more is this true today?
So, there are two issues here. First, our own unbelief can shutdown the miracle of God and secondly, God needs a person through whom to work. We have sat on the sidelines long enough waiting for God to fix all our problems. He has been awaiting us just like he waited for Moses. He said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Stretch out your hand.”
I know this is hard to hear and may run afoul of some our Christian traditions but Jeremiah 23: 28 says “Let him who has My word speak My word in truth.” That means we cannot hide the light under the bushel basket any longer. While it is a great deal more comfortable to sit by and wait for God to perform, the truth is that there is a job for us to do. We have been joined in a partnership with God almighty. It is called a covenant. The battle is won and the problems overcome by the combined authority of us and the Lord. It is the tandem acts of the Lord and us that carries the day as was revealed in Revelation 12: 11. We have something to say. And if we are not saying it and if we are not reaching out our hand where and when instructed, then the sea shall remain undivided.
This post is not supposed to stress you. It is meant to be empowering. Each of us has our own “Egyptian horde” chasing and harassing us. We all need a miracle in some aspect of our life. We’ve been taught that prayer is asking God to fix our world. We’ve, thus prayed, and sometimes been disappointed. What would have happened had Moses not raised his staff. Yes, pray. Please! Ask the Lord, your God, to reveal to you your role in dividing the sea. Ask Him to give you revelation into your situation. Have a conversation with Him about what you can do and for His Almighty help. Pray, also, that he might raise up a Moses in the land.