Boxed In at the Red Sea

Exodus chapter 14, verse 1, states, "And I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon his hosts, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." The children of Israel did so.

Let's pray. God, as we take some time over the next several weeks to look at the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel, I pray that You would speak to each of us, Lord. As believers, in following You, we do go through wildernesses; we pass through those areas of mightiness, such as Marah and the wilderness of Sin. We sometimes find ourselves boxed in at Piahiroth and Migdal. Lord, we find ourselves at times in Rephidim, camping there without water, without the water of Your Spirit. We need Your Word and Your guidance. I pray that You would speak to us as we look into the pages of Your Word tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

The Lord spoke unto Moses and said unto him, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Piahiroth, between Migdal, over against the sea, the Red Sea, against Balzaphon; before it shall you encamp."

Maybe you remember last week, as we were finishing up the book of Joshua, I mentioned this area of Piahiroth and Migdal. As I did, some people kind of gave me a blank stare, as in, "What in the world is Piahiroth and Migdal?"

As I considered what we may do over the next several weeks, this portion of Scripture popped out to me. I believe that as Christians, when we come out of Egypt, when we come out of the world—because Egypt in Scripture is a type, a picture of the world—when we exit that place and begin to follow the Lord, we find ourselves in these areas that are spoken of in these passages, specifically in Exodus chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17.

And the very first place that the children of Israel came as they left Egypt was after Pharaoh's firstborn son was killed by the destroyer. The Passover was established, and the children of Israel were readying to leave. Pharaoh said, "Leave, get out of here! We don't want you guys around. Just get out of here and go." The ten plagues had plagued Egypt, which, once a world power, had been pretty much destroyed by the hand of God.

Every single one of those ten plagues, whether it was the Nile being changed to blood, or the frogs that came up, or the flies, or the locusts, targeted certain deities that the Egyptians worshipped. God sent Moses down there early in the book of Exodus, specifically in chapters 3 and 4, to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt and out of bondage. He went down there with ten plagues that the Lord had called him to execute. Each one of those plagues diminished and destroyed one of the deities that the people in Egypt worshipped.

The Nile River, which sustained their life and was a major factor in making the Egyptians a world power at that time, was the first target. The very first thing that happened to the Egyptians was that their water was turned to blood. One by one, God took every single one of the deities, the things they bowed down to, and exposed them for what they really were. God will do that in your life, in my life, and in every other person's life in the world. As we walk in the course of the world, God will begin to take those things that we trust in, those things that we worship—whatever it may be, if it's not God—and expose them, showing us what they really are.

So, one by one, the Egyptians' deities were exposed. Yet Pharaoh continually hardened his heart. As George Bush often says, he had strength of resolve. He resolved himself not to turn to the Lord, saying, "I refuse to turn my heart to God." As he did this, God would say, "All right, you're no longer going to be able to go back from that point." It is said that God hardened Pharaoh's heart as well. Pharaoh strengthened his resolve until the point that his firstborn son was killed by the destroyer during the establishment of the Passover, the tenth plague.

Pharaoh then went to Moses and Aaron and said, "Just leave, get out of here. I don't want you guys here." The children of Israel packed up.

Maybe two or three million people began their exodus, their exiting out of Egypt. The very first place they went to was where the Lord spoke to Moses. He said to him, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and go down to this place, Piah, Hiroth, and Migdal, by the Red Sea, there against Balzaphan." God instructed Moses to take the children of Israel this alternate route. He acknowledged that, as Moses looked at the lay of the land, he might choose to go a little bit to the north and then to the east. However, God wanted him to go to the south and then to the east before bringing them into the wilderness and on into the promised land.

Moses, obeying the Lord, went down to this place. The Lord gave him a reason in verse 3, saying that Pharaoh would say the children of Israel were entangled in the land and that the wilderness had shut them up. God instructed Moses to turn. It is important to note that we are never to turn from the right hand or to the left hand of the Lord's path unless He says to go this way or turn.

So, Moses, with the camp of Israel—maybe three million people—turned and began to walk a little bit to the south and then to the east, heading towards the land of Canaan from Egypt. They camped in a place called Piah, Hiroth, situated between a mountain called Piah, Hiroth and a mountain called Migdal, with the Red Sea right in front of them. Just as the Lord said, Pharaoh began to question what was happening with these people. He said within his heart that they were entangled in the land and that the wilderness had shut them up.

I would say that any of you who have been believers for any length of time have found yourself in a place like this before, where you feel as though you're entangled in the land. You may feel that the wilderness has shut you in. This experience, which some evangelist may have told you about years ago, promised that if you come to the Lord, you will have love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. However, as you begin to follow the Lord, you might realize that there is a wilderness out here. You may cry out, "Lord, where are you in the midst of this?" You find yourself boxed in.

The Lord continues in verse 4, telling Moses, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after you. I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts." It is crucial to notice that it was God who led them into the wilderness. It was God who placed them in this situation where they would feel boxed in.

With the Red Sea in front of them, with Piah, Hiroth, and Migdol on either side, and the Egyptian army closing in, it was God who put them there. It was God who brought them there. Tonight, if you're experiencing a wilderness or if you've been in a dry spot recently and feel boxed in, know for certain, first and foremost, that God has brought you there. God is the one who is leading you in this work, in this walk, in this journey.

You may find yourself boxed in, but I want you to note that God boxed Israel in to prove to them that He was not in a box. He put them in this place with the Red Sea in front of them, Piah, Hiroth, and Migdol on either side, and the Egyptian army pressing in on them. This was to prove to His people that He is not contained to a box. I believe early in every person's walk with the Lord, He will put you in a place where you have to trust in Him.

As we saw in our study through the book of Joshua, remember when the Gibeonites came to the children of Israel and said, "We're from a faraway country. We want to make a league. We want to make a covenant, a treaty with you." The children of Israel involved themselves in a covenant with these people. Shortly after that, Adonai Zedek gathered with five other kings and came against the children of Gibeon. They were boxed in and shut in, put in that situation, I believe, by God to prove whether or not they truly trusted in the Lord and whether or not they truly trusted in the promise of Joshua.

Sure enough, we saw how the Gibeonites called out to Joshua and said, "Come save us." Early in our walks with the Lord, He will begin to test and prove us. As we see with Abraham, when he walked with the Lord in Genesis chapter 22, it says there in verse 1 that the Lord did tempt Abraham, or the Lord did test Abraham. He brought upon him this trial, this test, this tribulation to prove him. The word "tempt" or "test" there is the very same word found later on in Exodus. I believe it's Exodus chapter 15, verse 25, where it says that the Lord brought them out to prove them, to test them, to tempt them.

The Lord brought this camp, these Israelites, out of Egypt, out of bondage, out of the world. Immediately, they found themselves in a place where they were boxed in.

The Red Sea was in front, with Piah, Hiroth, and Migdal on the sides, and the Egyptian army pressing in. The children of Israel had nowhere to turn but to the Lord. The Lord was saying to them, although they may feel boxed in, He is not contained to a box. He was proving Himself to the children of Israel and testing whether they truly trusted in Him. His purpose is given in verse 4 because God always has a purpose in what He does. He says, "And I will be honored upon Pharaoh." In other translations, it could also be rendered as, "I will be glorified over Pharaoh."

God tells Moses, "I'm bigger than Pharaoh. I'm bigger than Pharaoh, and I am going to glorify Myself over him." Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God and strengthened his resolve, declaring that he wanted nothing to do with the God of Israel, even though God had given him countless opportunities to repent. The Lord explains to Moses that the reason He is placing them in this situation, between Piah, Hiroth, and Migdal, with the Red Sea in front of them, is so that He will be glorified over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

The Lord allows us to find ourselves in difficult places as well—trials, tests, and hard situations—so that He will be glorified over the god of this world, the king of this world: Satan. Remember, Satan tried to exalt himself; his name was Lucifer. He hardened his heart against the Lord and resolved to exalt himself above God. The Lord desires to glorify Himself over the god and king of this world. He is above him, but He allows you and me to go through tests and trials, to feel boxed in, so that He can be proven to be over the god of this world.

The Lord told Moses, "I have brought you out into this place and have stuck you here, boxed in, so that I will be honored over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." Underline that in your Bibles. God says, "I have put you in this place, boxed in, so that I will be exalted, so that I will be glorified over Pharaoh."

And that the people in Egypt, the people in the world, will know that I am the Lord. God always has a purpose in what He does. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, we find out that God has allowed you and me; He has made us to be a spectacle to the world. He has set us on display. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, would say, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." God desires to glorify Himself in and through us in the eyes of the world.

God desires to glorify Himself in and through us to the eyes of the world. And so, He will put us in situations sometimes that are very difficult—trials that are very hard, where everything seems to be collapsing in. You see, God oftentimes is more glorified through us going through a trial with Him than through us being exalted above measure.

God put the children of Israel in this place, boxed in, with Pharaoh coming against them, so that Pharaoh would be cast down, that God would be exalted, and that the people of Egypt would know that He was Lord. The children of Israel did what the Lord had called them to do. It was told to the king of Egypt in verse 5 that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people. They said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

So it was told to Pharaoh what was going on, how the children of Israel had turned down into this place, and they were trapped. Pharaoh, his advisors, and the people in Egypt said, "Why did we let these guys go in the first place? That was really dumb." You see, the children of Israel were kind of like the laborers in Egypt. They were the ones who were making Egypt grow. They were the ones who were building up the cities. They were slaves there, the ones that the taskmasters were over.

Now Pharaoh looks at it and says, "Wait a minute, this is a problem. All these people who were the workers here, they're gone now." He made ready his chariot in verse 6 and took his people with him. He took 600 chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, along with the captains over every one of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. The children of Israel went out with a high hand; they had gone out with great boldness.

After the Lord had done those many mighty works in the land of Egypt before them, they went out glorifying the Lord and thanking Him for what He had done. Just as you and I, when we left the world—Egypt, bondage—went out with great boldness, glorifying the Lord and thanking Him for what He did.

Pharaoh saw this, and his heart was angered. He said, "I'm going after these people." Satan, our adversary, the king of this world, when he saw you go out and follow after the Lord, leaving the bondage you were in, established a war against you. He considers you and me every single day, wanting to figure out how he can take us out, take us down, and bruise us. He pursues us just like Pharaoh pursued the children of Israel.

Pharaoh gathered together all of his chariots and captains, and they went after the children of Israel. In verse 9, the Egyptians pursued them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his army. They overtook them and camped by the sea beside Piahiroth before Balzaphon. They came to this place where the children of Israel were camping, with the Red Sea in front of them, Piahiroth and Migdol on either side, and the army of Egypt pressing in behind them.

When Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and beheld the Egyptians marching after them. They were sore afraid, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. They looked and saw that Pharaoh was pressing in with his army. At that moment, they realized this was not a very strategic place for them to be; they were trapped. As they lifted up their eyes and saw the dust coming from the chariots, they began to panic. They were sore afraid and said, "Lord, why have You brought us to this place?"

They cried out to Moses in verse 11, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have You brought us out here to die in the wilderness?" I'm sure that many of you as believers have felt that way sometimes. Why did I leave all that? So often, we have a glorified sense of what the world was like, forgetting the taskmasters we were under and the bondage we were in. We ask, "Why have we left that to come out here to this wilderness? Am I just going to die in this wilderness?"

And you see, oftentimes we quickly lose sight of what God is doing. Paul the Apostle told the children there in Philippi that he is confident of this very thing: that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it unto the day of Christ Jesus.

A lot of times, I look at the circumstances that I'm going through, and I see the trials and the tribulations that come against me. I ask, "What is going on here, Lord?" The Lord responds, "This is barely anything. It's not even to be weighed or considered with the things that are going to be revealed in your life—the glory that shall be revealed in you." The Lord says, "This is nothing." Yet, I often focus on the trial. I concentrate on that tribulation, that test, and I become wearied by it.

The Lord would tell Samuel in the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 16, "I do not see as you see. For you look on the outward appearance of things, but I look at the heart." I have found, and I am sure you are finding in your life as well, that as you walk with the Lord, you often don't see the way that the Lord sees. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 55 that the Lord's ways are higher than ours.

Oftentimes, I look at what is going on around me, and I start to feel bummed out. I think, "What are you doing? I don't understand." The Lord says, "You don't see what I see. I see the end." In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon states that the end of a thing is better than its beginning. And boy, is that true! Our end is going to be there in the arms of our Lord, but the beginning of it can sometimes be difficult.

The children of Israel came into the promised land, as we've studied over the last six months in the book of Joshua. They arrived at that place of rest, but first, they had to pass through the wilderness. The wilderness is always in between bondage in Egypt and the promised land that God is bringing you and me to. We are traveling in the wilderness today in this world. Yet, in the wilderness, we can trust in the Lord. We can know that He is in control.

It is my prayer, oftentimes, "Lord, help me to see as You see." I want to know that You are still on the throne and that You are still in control. You are a strong God.

If you would, turn in your Bibles to Psalm 46. As the children of Israel are there, the Pharaoh draws nigh with his army. The children of Israel lift their eyes and behold the Egyptians marching after them. They are afraid and cry out unto the Lord, saying, "Lord, what are you going to do? Moses, why have you brought us out into this place? Have you brought us out here just to die in the wilderness?"

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall set up a standard against him. We read in the book of Isaiah, chapter 59, verse 19, that the Spirit of the Lord shall humble him when the enemy presses in like a flood. Here, Pharaoh was pressing in like a flood, but the Lord is the one who is able to humble him.

In Psalm 46, verse 1, we read, "God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble." Therefore, we will not fear. Though the earth be removed and though the mountain be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and are troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river, and the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.

The heathen raged; the kingdoms were moved. He uttered His voice, and the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations He hath made in the earth! He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear asunder; He burns the chariots in fire.

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in all the earth." The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

In the midst of this, as the children of Israel are trapped with Piah, Hiroth, and Migdol on either side and the Red Sea in front of them, the armies of Pharaoh pursue them from behind. They see the heathen raging, and the kingdoms are moved. Yet we read here in verse 6 of Psalm 46, "He uttered His voice, and the earth melted."

What are all these things in comparison to our God? All these things that come against us—how can they even begin to compare with the power, the might, and the strength of our God? Later on in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord would say, "With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, I brought you out." The Lord, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, has brought you and me out of the world so that He might bring us in—to that new life in Christ.

Yet, in the midst of that, as we walk with the Lord, we do go through trials. Jesus promised us that in the world we would have much tribulation. Not many of us like to claim that promise. How many of you wake up in the morning and say, "I'm just claiming the promise today that, Lord, in the world, I will have much trial"? Praise the Lord! Now, the verse goes on to say, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." That is an awesome thing. But He did promise that we would go through hard times and bad days. We would find ourselves in these wilderness areas, sometimes feeling trapped, as if we are going to be consumed. The heathen is raging, the warring is going on all around us, and the spiritual battle is just oppressive.

Yet, in the midst of that, He uttered His voice, and the earth melted. The Lord would tell the children of Israel, as they cried out to Him back in the book of Exodus, chapter 14, "Is not this the word that we did tell you in Egypt?" They cried out to Moses, saying, "We told you while we were in Egypt, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians.' For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." Sometimes we think that it would be better for us to stay in the world than to come out into this wilderness. We feel like we are wandering in the wilderness.

But there you were in bondage, and the Lord has freed you. Moses said to the people in verse 13 of Exodus chapter 14, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Just as the psalmist in Psalm 46:10 would say, "Be still and know that I am God." In the midst of it, as the heathen comes against you, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

As the world seems to be piling up on top of you and you feel trapped, you might find yourself in the wilderness, wondering why you were brought there in the first place, Lord. The Lord brought you there that He might be exalted among the heathen and in all the earth. He desires to be glorified in and through us so that the world would know that He is the Lord, the Lord of all the earth.

He says, "Be still. Stand still and see the salvation." See the salvation that only He can bring, that only He can give. In the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, when Jehoshaphat was king over Israel, there came against him the children of Moab, the children of Ammon, and another group. Moab and Ammon were the two greater ones that came against the children of Israel, and they were getting ready to attack.

Jehoshaphat and all the children of Israel gathered together in Jerusalem, and they began to seek the Lord. A prophecy was given, and in verse 15, the prophet said, "Hearken, you all, Judah, and all you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord unto you: Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go you down against them. Behold, they will come up, and you shall find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeru. You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand you still, and see the salvation of the Lord. You, O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you."

Later on in their history, the children of Israel would find themselves in a place where they again felt trapped, with nations coming against them. The heathen were raging, and the kingdoms were moved. The Lord uttered His voice, and they just utterly melted. The Lord said, "Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am still in control, that I am on the throne. Stand you still, O Israel, and see the salvation of the Lord, that He will fight for you. For the Egyptians who are before you right now, these Egyptians that are coming against you, they will never come against you again. The Lord shall fight for you."

In verse 14 of Exodus 14, the Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. While He is giving this message, while Moses is standing there and speaking to the children of Israel, there was a man who was there at that point in time who was listening, whose name was Joshua. Five times, I believe it is, in the book of Joshua, he reminds the children of Israel that the Lord fought for you. Here, Moses is telling them all, and I'm sure Joshua took careful note of this when he said, "The Lord shall fight for you." He is the one who is going to stand up for you.

Then it says in verse 15, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Why therefore do you cry unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel and tell them to go forward." This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I find myself oftentimes down on my face before the Lord and saying, "Why are you doing this to me? This is horrible. What's going on? I don't understand. Why have you brought me into this wilderness to die?" The Lord says, "Why are you crying to me? Arise. Go up. Tell the children of Israel to go forward."

I'm sure Moses, at that point in time, when he is inquiring of the Lord, hears the Lord say, "Why are you even crying to me? Just tell them to go forward." Moses looks and says, "Lord, there's a big sea in front of us." I don't know about you, but I've been in that place too. Even in the last couple of weeks, I've been coming before the Lord and saying, "What do you want me to do?" The Lord says, "Right in front of you. Just go." It's like, "But there's a big sea. Don't you see the sea in front of me? Are you even listening to me?"

I'm sure Moses stands there and says, "Lord, what are you talking about? Go forward. Lord, there's this large sea in front of us." The Lord says to him in verse 16, "But lift thou thy rod and stretch it out. Stretch your hand over the sea and divide it." Oh yeah, that sounds easy. Thanks, Lord. "And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." The Lord says, "Stop crying. Get up and go straight forward."

"But the sea, Lord, see? It's right there." The Lord responds, "Stretch out your hand with the rod of God over the waters, and the waters will be divided. You divide the waters with the rod, and the children of Israel will go over."

In the midst of the sea, through the midst of the sea on dry ground, there was the rod in the hands of Moses. This stick, this shepherd's staff, was pretty useless apart from God. What good was it for? Well, it was a tool. It was a tool of his trade for sure. He was a shepherd. For 40 years, he tended the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, in the land of Midian. This was the tool of his trade; this was what he used every single day. Yet, in his hands, that was all it was good for.

There came a time when the Lord spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, as recorded in the book of Exodus, chapters 3 and 4. Moses said, "Lord, I don't think they're going to listen to me if I go down to Egypt." The Lord responded, "I want you to take your staff and cast it down." The Lord would say to you and to me, "What is that that's in your hand? What is the thing that you use for your life, your livelihood? Cast it down before me. Lay it down before me. Yield it into my hands."

Moses cast it down before the Lord, and it became a serpent. He was so afraid that he turned and ran. Big, bad Moses ran from this snake. The implication, of course, is that it was a poisonous snake. Then the Lord said, "Moses, I want you to take it up, but take it up by the tail." Now, any of you in this room who know anything about snakes know it's not a good idea to pick a snake up by the tail. But the Lord insisted, "I want you to pick it up by the tail. I'll take care of the head. You yield yourself to me."

So Moses reached down and grabbed it by the tail, and once again it became a staff. You see, that stick was nothing unless it was yielded to the Lord. You and I are nothing unless we're yielded to the Lord. That stick, which was just a tool of his trade, became powerful when it was yielded to God. In the hands of God, it became a miraculous apparatus. When you and I are yielded to God, we too become miraculous in His hands. Apart from the Lord, we're just a pile of sticks, really not good for much. But in the hands of the Lord, yielded unto Him, we become a miraculous apparatus.

And so the Lord spoke to Moses and said, "Take that in your hand and go down to the Red Sea. Lift it up, stretch it out, and divide the sea. The children of Israel will go across on dry ground. Behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow after you."

At this point in time, if Moses is anything like me, he might say, "Wait a minute, Lord, hold on. I understand the whole thing about going forward. I realize that you've got power and you can part the Red Sea and everything. But if you've got that kind of power, why don't you just tell the guy to go home? What do you mean he's going to follow us? Why are you going to harden his heart? This doesn't make any sense to me, Lord. I don't think that's a good idea."

Objection. And the Lord says, "Overruled." He explains that the Egyptians will follow down into the air because He will get honor upon Pharaoh, his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. God says, "I will harden his heart. He's going to follow you. Even though you don't think that's a good idea, I think it is because I'm going to use you today to glorify myself. I will get honor. I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his army and all of his hosts. I will be glorified today. Not you, Moses. I will be glorified."

The Egyptians, as stated in verse 18, will know that He is the Lord. When we ask, "Lord, why am I going through this trial? Why am I going through this test?" the Lord responds, "Because I will be glorified." The chief end of man is to glorify our Lord.

The Lord would say that the reason you are going through this trial is because He is most glorified in you when you are broken. When people don't look at you and say, "Man, that was a really good job. We knew you had to do that. We knew you had it in you, Moses," but instead look at you and say, "How did that ever happen with that guy?" then the Lord is glorified.

You see, if the Lord had allowed Moses to take the children of Israel out of Egypt when he was 40 years old, then he would have gotten the glory. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News would have been there on the other side of the Red Sea, asking, "Moses, how did you do it?" And he might have said, "Well, I am exceedingly fair, educated in all the knowledge and wisdom of the Egyptians. That had to play a part in it, don't you think?"

But you see, at 80 years old, after the Lord had broken him down into nothing, He continued to break him that day.

The Lord would say, "I am going to be glorified this day. Not you, Moses, not the children of Israel, but me, the God of Israel. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I have gotten my honor upon Pharaoh. When I have been glorified over Pharaoh, they will know that I am the Lord, and over his chariots and over his horsemen."

The angel of the Lord, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. The pillar of cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. You remember the story: the children of Israel were led by day by a pillar of cloud and by night by a pillar of fire while they were in the wilderness. But now, this pillar of cloud and this pillar of fire that was before them removed from before them and went behind them. It became their rear guard, their hedge of protection.

The Lord who leads you is the same Lord who protects you. He goes behind the children of Israel and hedges them in with this great cloud. It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of the children of Israel. It was a cloud of darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that one came not near to the other all night. It was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians, to those who were outside, to those who were in the world; it was darkness. But to those who were on the other side with the Lord, it was light. It was a comfort to them.

You see, when we go through trials and we're walking with the Lord through the midst of the trial, trusting in Him, realizing that, "Lord, you're my refuge, you're my strength, my ever-present help in time of need," we find that He is the light of our lives. He is the light of our salvation. Whom shall we fear? Though there are ten thousand that come against us, we will not fear because He is with us.

To us who are following the Lord, we are walking in the light. In the midst of a trial, we can have joy and peace because we are in His light. But to those who are outside, those who are in the world, they look at us and say, "What's wrong with you?" It is darkness to them; they do not understand. When you go through a very hard time, the people in your family and those in the world who do not know the Lord see what is going on and say, "How can you go through this? I feel so bad for you. Such darkness before you." And there you are, the Christian, saying, "Oh, I just love the Lord. He's blessed me. He's taken me through this thing."

It's just great joy. They say you're a peculiar person, and they fulfill the word of the Lord found in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, where the Lord said that you are a resource of a royal generation, a royal priesthood, God's own peculiar people, that you should declare the praises of Him who brought you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

You see, God is glorified when we go through trials, when we weather the wilderness with the Lord, walking in the light. When we face hard times, when we find ourselves trapped and everything seems to be closing in on us, we say, "Lord, I'm going to trust in You." Why are you downcast, O my soul? Yet I will praise You, Lord. Yet I will trust in You. I have Your light. I know You're in control. I know You're on the throne. I'm going to go forward.

The world looks on and says, "You are just a strange bunch. You don't make any sense." But in the midst of that, God is glorified. God is exalted. Not Miles, not Mark, not Brian, but the Lord. When I go through a trial, the Lord is the one who wants the glory, and that's why He brings me into those places. The Lord spoke unto Moses and said, "You go on down south and trap yourself between Piahiroth and Migdol at the Red Sea so that I can be glorified, so that I can have My honor over Pharaoh, and that the world would know, that the Egyptians would know that I am the Lord."

To the world, it seems like darkness. They look at it and say, "I don't understand. You don't make any sense." But when we weather those trials, walking in the light, the Lord is glorified. The world is baffled, but God is exalted. The chief end of man is to glorify the Lord, to bring Him glory.

And you know what? What if the Lord saved you and made you automatically rich? The day you came forward and prayed the sinner's prayer, you walk outside, and someone walks up and says, "Here's a billion dollars. You're rich." You would have tons and tons of blessings come upon you. There would be people at the end of the day who would say, "Man, that guy pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. I tell you, he was one good guy."

Look at all those things that he accomplished for himself: all the money that he made, all the wealth that he has, those big houses, those big cars. He has his own airplane. Look at all the great things he can do.

All the material things of this world can be explained away by our own efforts. But when you walk through the midst of a trial with the peace of God, which passes all understanding, the world stands by and says, "Where did you get that? I want that." I don't have it. I have all the money in the world, but I don't have peace, and I don't have love, and I don't have joy. Where did you get it?

We can't say, "Well, I went to this really cool class in college that taught me how to do this." All you can say is, "Well, it's the Lord." He put me in the midst of this place, and I was really afraid. I was sore afraid, and I cried out to Him. He hedged me in with His protection, and then He opened up the waters, and I walked across on dry ground. All I can say is, "It's the Lord."

Sadly, most people, when they hear that, say, "Well, there's got to be something more." No, there's nothing more. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

You see, when you go after all the other things in this world, you'll sink; you'll fall. If you put your life, if you found your life upon the sand, the foolish man does that. When the storm comes, when the trial comes, when you're trapped between Piah, Hiroth, and Migdol, and the Egyptians are pressing in while the Red Sea is in front of you, you'll fall over; you'll collapse.

But if you're built upon the Lord and you trust that the Lord says, "Fear not, stand still, and you'll see my salvation. I will fight for you," if you can trust and say, "Lord, I trust that I don't know what you're going to do, but I know that you're in control, that you're on the throne," then the Lord can be glorified. He can be magnified in you and in me, and oh, how He longs to do so.

But so many people in the world have the attitude, "Hey, when the going gets tough, the tough get going," right? But you know, the Christian who follows after the Lord, when the going gets tough, stands strong in the Lord and says, "Lord, you're going to fight for me." When everybody else is running away and saying, "I ain't sticking around, man," the Christian remains steadfast.

This thing's going to collapse, but you just go on with yourself. The Lord says, "I'm in control." He utters His voice, and the earth melts. Everything around you makes you wonder, where's the trial?

Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were in the fiery furnace. They stoked the furnace seven times hotter than it had ever been stoked before and cast them in. The king looked and said, "Didn't we cast three guys in there?" They replied, "Yes, we did." But he said, "I see four, and one of them is as of the Son of God." They were walking in the midst of the fire. This fire was so hot that the men who threw them in died. Yet there they were, walking in the midst of the fire.

What happened to them while they were in there? The only thing that happened was that the smell of smoke was not upon them; they were not burned in any way. The only thing burned was the bondage, the things that bound them. The Lord allows you and me to go through trials to release us from that bondage and to cause the world to stand back and say, "Wow, that's amazing. What happened?"

Then you find yourself, as you're walking with the Lord in the midst of the trial, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, rejoicing with God. The king has to stand up and say, "Hey guys, come out of there." Then the Lord can be glorified. What an awesome thing it is to be used as an instrument of God to bring glory to God.

The Lord told the children of Israel that He had hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he was going to follow after them. He would go down there because He would have His honor above Pharaoh, and the children of Egypt would know that He is the Lord.

In verse 21, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night. He made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and to the left. The Egyptians pursued and went after them in the midst of the sea, even all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen.

It came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked down upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and He troubled the host of Egypt.

There's a verse in the Psalms where it says that the heathen come warring against the Lord, and He laughs at them from heaven. I imagine that's what the Lord was doing here. He looks down upon them and thinks, "Let's just kind of make this really difficult for you." He troubled their chariots, and they took off the chariot wheels. They drove heavily, and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them." The Lord was exalting Himself through the situation. Even Egypt acknowledged that the Lord fights for Israel against them.

The Lord said unto Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, and upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength. When the morning appeared, the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them.

The Lord said to Moses, "But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and to the left." Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore and witnessed the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. The people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

As the Egyptians followed after the children of Israel, God troubled their chariots, and their wheels fell off. They were driving hard, and then they realized that the Lord fights against them. God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand and make the waters collapse upon these people. The waters came upon the Egyptians, and they were flooded in the Red Sea—an awesome miracle.

In our lives, this event is actually a picture of baptism: coming out of Egypt, going down into the water, and coming back out, leaving all the old things of the world behind. The Egyptians were floating there dead in the water, and the Lord was glorified over all of Egypt that day. The Lord saved Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians, and they witnessed it.

I hear people all the time say, "I don't see miracles today." Jesus said that you'll see greater miracles than any of these that were done. You know what? I see miracles every single time a person says, "I accept the Lord."

I'm giving myself to the Lord. I repent. I turn to Him. That is one of the greatest miracles that will ever take place—greater than a withered hand being made whole, greater than a blind person made to see, and greater than a person who is lame being made to walk. The greatest miracle is a person who is dead spiritually being made alive.

Don't ever be numbered amongst those who say, "I don't see any miracles," because every single time you see a person bow themselves before the Lord, that is the greatest miracle that ever took place. Thus, the Lord saved Israel, and they saw it. We have seen the Lord save many people as they've turned themselves over to Him, leaving Egypt behind.

Sometimes, as we do and will, they find themselves in the midst of Piah Hiroth and Migdol, with the Red Sea in front and the Egyptian army closing in behind. Everything seems to be closing in on us, and the Lord says, "I've brought you here for a purpose, that I could be glorified, that I could be magnified, and that the world would look on and say, 'There's something peculiar, something strange, something different about those people who walk in the light.' Although I don't know what it is, it's darkness to me. I don't understand it; I can't perceive it, but there's something different, and I want to know what it is."

The greatest witnessing tool, I believe, is for a Christian to go through a trial trusting in the Lord. I have seen some people, as we saw several years ago with Chet Asman, who continued to walk strong with the Lord in the midst of one of the most amazing trials. I have seen several funerals at this place, but I have never seen as many people at a funeral as I did at Chet Asman's funeral. He was a witness for the Lord, and he walked in the midst of a trial at a young age. People looked on in amazement and said, "What is different about this young man?"

People will look upon your life and say, "Man, he's gone through so many trials, and yet he's walked with the Lord in the midst of the storm." What an awesome testimony that is! That's why James would say, "Count it all joy when you find yourself in various trials." We often say, "Oh, I don't like that verse at all. Count it all joy? Give me a break!"

Why? Because the Lord is glorified, and He is magnified. The world stands off and says, "What is going on?" On top of that, you and I are being perfected. The testing of your faith, the trial of your faith, the tempting of your faith produces patience, and patience will have its perfect work in you, that you will be complete, that you'll be perfect, lacking nothing. Who wants to be that? Absolutely! And so the Lord has placed you today.

Maybe in a place where you feel boxed in, just so that He can prove to you that He's not in a box, and there's no box that can contain Him. He is bigger than everything you've ever thought of and everything that you could ever imagine. He desires to reach out into your world and do a great work that you would not have believed, though it were told to you. Even then, you wouldn't believe it.

The Lord says, "I will be glorified over Pharaoh, and the world shall know that I am God" when they see you, Christian, weather the storm with the Lord, walking in the light.

Let's pray. God, thank You for Your Word, so applicable to us. Lord, it has meaning. These things that were written thousands of years ago, and other people scoff at, saying, "Oh, there's nothing in that book," yet it's living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It's able to divide the soul and the spirit, the joint and marrow.

Lord, You've divided my heart from some of the things of this world. Even now, as we've gone through this text, I thank You for Your Word, Your Word that's like a fire, like a hammer that breaks the mountains. Lord, break our stony hearts. Cause us to realize that the trial we face, the testing You've put before us, is there to cause a testimony. It's there to glorify Your name.

Lord, help us to count it all joy because we know You're in control. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.