Picture this. It's around 1250 B.C., and the Israelites are standing on the shore of the Red Sea. After so many years of ruthless oppression, the king of Egypt--Pharaoh--finally freed the people of Israel from slavery. The Israelites were well along on their journey when the king of Egypt suddenly changed his mind about freeing the people. It was clear God was on Israel's side, and after so many plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh genuinely wanted to get these people out of his sight. But that meant he would lose the free labor he was getting from them, and that seemed like a worse option. So Pharaoh prepared his army and set out in a mad pursuit of the people of Israel.
There the Israelites were--the armies of Egypt behind them and the raging Red Sea before them. Panic struck the Israelites, and immediately, they turned to their leader, Moses, to voice their complaints. Why did Moses bring them here in the first place? It would've been better to serve the Egyptians, they said.
Moses replied, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13-14, NIV)
That was when God spoke up. He told the Israelites to move on. Not behind, but forward. He asked Moses to do the impossible--to raise his staff and divide the waters of the Red Sea. He said that He would gain glory through Pharaoh and his army, and all of Egypt would know who the Lord is through this.
The pillar of cloud that guided the people of Israel every night moved to the back and separated the armies of Egypt from Israel. It brought darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites. Then, right there in the middle of the night, Moses stretched out his hand, and God divided the Red Sea in front of them, and the Israelites went through on dry ground, with water on either side.
The Egyptians pursued them but to no avail. As the Israelites safely walked through the dry ground of the Red Sea, behind them, the waters flowed over the Egyptians. The entire army of Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. God saved His people by doing the impossible. And many came to know Him that day.
The story of the Red Sea sounds a lot like our own, doesn't it? We've all had impossible dreams. Been in impossible circumstances. Faced insurmountable odds. We've all stood on the shore of the Red Sea, unsure if it's actually going to part. We've all stood on the shore of the impossible, wondering if God will come through.
But nothing is impossible for God.
The Israelites knew that, logically speaking, the Red Sea could never part. The water simply cannot be split in two. But our God goes beyond logic. He does the impossible--the supernatural, the unthinkable. He's done it in my life and can do it in yours, too. Today, I'll highlight three songs that speak to this idea.
Brandon Lake, "Kids"
The parting of the Red Sea must have seemed so incredibly impossible to the Israelites. And yet, they shouldn't have been too surprised. They had the miracle worker, the God of all creation, on their side. So far, they had already seen so many earth-shattering miracles. They had been freed from slavery in Egypt because God poured out His signs and wonders onto the Egyptians. He had sent plagues and done incredible things just to let Egypt know, "These are my people."
It took time, though--a lot of time. Pharaoh was reluctant to let the Israelites go, and as we've already seen, he changed his mind once they left and tried to enslave them again. It took weeks--possibly even months--of waiting. And once the Israelites were past the Red Sea, it took 40 years before Israel actually entered the Promised Land.
But in the midst of all of it, God had a plan. Even in the waiting, God was working.
In worship artist Brandon Lake's recent song, "Kids," he sings, "The miracle worker's working a miracle out, the miracle worker's working a miracle now."
Even on the shore of the Red Sea, God is working. Even on the other side of the sea, in the middle of the wilderness, God has a miracle in the works.
I think back to a story over a thousand years later that takes place in an upper room. The night before Jesus' crucifixion, Jesus and His twelve disciples celebrated the Passover together. Unexpectedly, Jesus wrapped a towel around His waist, poured water in a basin, and began washing His disciples' feet. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, he was stunned that His rabbi would stoop down and wash his feet. This was not a job for the master but for the servant.
"Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Simon asked in John 13:6. Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
How true that is even for us today. We may not understand what Jesus is doing now, but later we will. The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness might not make sense right now, but God is working even through the barren desert to bring forth a miracle. Even on the shore of the Red Sea, the miracle worker is working a miracle out.
Jesus washed His disciples' feet out of His great love for them, but they had to wait before they could see the big picture. They had to wait before they could see that this was all part of His great love story unfolding. They had to wait before they could see the miracle in the works.
"When You say You'll show up, You show up/When You say You'll come through, You always do/If You did it back then, You can do it now/'Cause You don't ever let Your kids down."
Elevation Worship, "Do It Again"
The people of God can expect the impossible. It's not a question of if, it's merely a question of when. God is going to come through--He always does. Maybe not in the way we expect, but He comes through time and again. It may take years, but God will do the miraculous, whatever the miraculous may look like for us. But how do we keep our faith alive in the waiting? How do we keep hoping and persevering when God is taking so long to come through? We look to the past to see what God's done before.
Elevation Worship sings in their song "Do It Again," "I've seen You move, You move the mountains/And I believe I'll see You do it again/You made a way, where there was no way/And I believe I'll see You do it again."
For five years, I felt I was on the "shore of the impossible." Like the Red Sea was before me, and I was waiting and hoping that someday it would part. God had placed a dream in my heart, and I knew it was there for a reason. But, in the meantime, I had to wait and remember: wait for God to come through and remember what He's done for me in the past.
God had used a church called Passion City to change my life, and I hoped and prayed that one day, I would be able to walk through the doors of that church to see this place that God had used to free me from anxiety and set into motion my relationship with Him. It almost sounds silly that I wanted to go to this church so badly--but I knew there was a reason why I needed to go and a reason why I needed to wait.
It all seemed so impossible. I live across the country from Passion City Church, and at the time, I didn't even have a job. But I kept praying. Day after day, I kept praying. I kept holding onto what God has done in the past--like how He's saved me and changed my life--and all the miraculous ways He's come through. That's what gave me hope for the future. I knew that if God had done impossible things before, He could do impossible things again.
And, sure enough, He did. In May of 2022, I finally walked through the doors of Passion City Church, and it was at exactly the right time. If it hadn't been for all the years of waiting, I wouldn't have met the people I did. I wouldn't have had the experiences I did. There was a reason for the waiting--a reason it took so long for the "Red Sea" to part.
2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." We have to remember that there's a reason for the waiting, and perhaps all the waiting is happening so that, at just the perfect time, God will fulfill His promises to you so that more can come to faith through Him. Things are happening, and God is working even when we can't see Him at work; we can be confident in that.
"Your promise still stands/Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness/I'm still in Your hands/This is my confidence/You've never failed me yet."
Passion, "The Lord Will Provide"
So what are you waiting for? What does your "shore of the impossible" look like for you? Are you waiting for a job offer? Or for healing? Maybe even for a dream to become a reality like I was? Whatever it may be, I want to remind you that God sees you in it. Even on the shore of the dreams and hopes you think are impossible, God has something in the works. He has something good in store--something you could never even fathom.
Waiting is hard. But even in the waiting, we must believe that God's plans are better than ours. We always want our own way, and we want it now. But quite often, our ways are not the best. Even when our ways are quick and easy, they're often not what's truly best. God's ways might be long and hard but they're good and beautiful.
Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"
God knows what's best for us, and we'll see miracles happen in His timing. He's not going to leave us or abandon us--His word promises that He'll never do that. In fact, He'll provide everything we need right when we need it.
Passion introduced a new song at their 2024 conference called "The Lord Will Provide." The song was inspired by one of the names of God, Jehovah Jireh--"The-God-Who-Provides." The chorus says, "Everything I need/Everything I need/My Father has it/My Father has it/And every single time/The Lord will provide/My Father has it/My Father has it."
If God has dressed the wildflowers and provided for the sparrows, surely He'll supply all we need. Not in our timing but in His.
As you stand on the shore of the impossible, remember all that God has done in the past and all He'll continue to do in the future. Whatever you need today, your Father has it. Rest in the fact that He's going to come through.
"Seek first the kingdom and its treasures/Everything else it will be added/All that I'm needing/I know the Lord will provide/I know my God's not empty handed/He gives us blessings upon blessings/I'm still believing/I know the Lord will provide."
Grace Chaves is NRT's News Editor. She's been part of NewReleaseToday since 2019 and is continuing her journey by majoring in Multimedia Journalism at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.
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