When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to HaShem. They said to 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 in bringing us out of Egypt? …For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (14:10-12)
It might be easy for us to be harshly critical of the people of Israel – how could they be so fearful and wishing to be back in their slavery? Maybe because Pharaoh took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt and pursued them. That was obviously terrifying!
I hope we will never have that experience, but we all face scary things at times, whether it’s a diagnosis of a terminal illness, or an enormous financial loss, or some serious relationship trouble. We might be persecuted for living according to our faith or for speaking God’s truths.
The reason that the Israelites actually didn’t need to be terrified in their terrifying situation, is because of God – His relationship to and commitment to them.
I love 1 Peter 3:6, where God through Peter is describing godly women using Sarah as an example and it ends with “and you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” God is not saying here not to be afraid of things that aren’t frightening. He is saying not to be afraid of things that are actually frightening! And the only way we can do that is if we trust God. And we trust God by getting to know Him and seeing how trustworthy He is.
The rest of the chapter is an amazing display of God’s power with the miraculous parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of the Egyptian army as they pursued the Israelites.
All the Israelites had to do in this case was “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of HaShem, which he will work for you today…HaShem will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (14:13-14).
Sometimes God will ask us to stand firm and watch what he does. Other times He may ask us to take a certain action. But in every case, we do not have to fear the frightening things because of who God is and how much he loves us.
Prayer: God, I praise You for Your power, for Your love, for Your involvement in my life. You are trustworthy. Help me not to fear things that are frightening. (If there are specific things in your life that you are frightened by, pray about those things.)
