Which Way Are You Looking?

We are a few days away from the end of the year and for some of us this has been our best year yet. For others, we are wondering how God is going to do all the things He promised us this year, in the few weeks that we have left to end 2023. It seems impossible and perhaps we have started to lose hope.

The Holy Spirit brought to mind  the situation of the Israelites who had been held captive by Pharaoh, in Egypt; They were serving as slaves, and were tired of their suffering so they cried out to God. God heard their cry and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and He knew that He had to intervene.

He called on Moses to help set His people free, but when Moses came on the scene, for a moment there, the troubles of the Israelites doubled. At a point, they asked Moses if God had really sent Him because anytime he spoke to Pharaoh on their behalf, their conditions worsened. Their lives became more unbearable and the so called hand of God that they were supposed to be seeing, seemed like the hand of the enemy. Fast forward, ten plagues later, Pharaoh let God’s people go! And He made sure that their captors, the Egyptians blessed them before they left.

The entire period, Moses remained obedient to God’s instructions. I know Moses wasn’t sure all the time about the 'ridiculous' things God asked him to do, yet he obeyed, and it was as a result of his obedience that the Israelites gained their freedom.

It’s interesting that when the Israelites left Egypt, God asked them to camp at a land that was directly in front of the sea. He even asked them to face the sea. Funny right?

While the Israelites were waiting for God's next instruction at their campsite, Pharaoh realized He had a great opportunity to recapture them. After all, their God had only led them to the front of the sea. If his army went straight to them,  the Israelites would have nowhere to run to.

You may be caught between Pharaoh's army and the sea right now. But don’t be like the Israelites whose immediate reaction was to forget everything that God had done and only look the way of  Pharaoh's army. They asked Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians" (Exodus 14:11-12).

Yes, they were willing to go back to their old situation, forgetting who the God they called God is. How soon we forget all that God has done for us! But thank God for Moses! He reminded them of the promises of God.

Instead of the Israelites looking the way of God, they chose to look the wrong way and looked at their problem, their obstacle, their mountain. But God is faithful. In obedience to an instruction from God, Moses parted the Red Sea and took the Israelites toward their Promised Land - The land flowing with milk and honey.

It is easy to make our problems bigger than our God, and more so when the pressures of life get to us. God wants you to know that He isn’t going to leave you halfway. He will see you to that Promised Land. God says in the remaining days:

“Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lords salvation that He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The lord will fight for you and you must be quiet."

(Exodus 14:13 -14) CSB

Don’t look the wrong way. Keep your eyes on God, and look His way the rest of 2023, in 2024 and beyond!

Love, 

Alice