Daily Devotional | Crossing the Red Sea

Earlier this year, the home of Harriet Tubman was located by archaeologists after decades of searching. Tubman became known as the “Moses of her people” because she helped many slaves escape to freedom. State officials planned to put artifacts from the dig on display at the nearby Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center.

In Exodus 13, Moses, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, thought the hard part was done. Not quite yet! In their story, as so often in ours, there is always “one more crisis” that calls for God to act and for us to respond in faith and obedience. In this case, the crisis came when they found themselves trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. Actually, God directed them to step into the trap in order to provide another opportunity to display His glory and to teach everyone that “I am the LORD” (14:1–4).

God Himself led them in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day (13:20–22). When the people realized the trap they’d stepped into, they complained (14:11–12), while Moses’ faith remained exemplary (14:13–14). Matters unfolded just as God said they would: The Israelites walked through the divided waters on dry ground, while the Egyptian soldiers were swept away and drowned. The nation was once again miraculously delivered, and the people’s faith in God and Moses was strengthened (14:31). The people carried with them the bones of Joseph (13:19). Centuries before, Joseph had prophesied the Exodus and made his descendants vow to take his body with them (Gen. 50:24–25; Heb. 11:22). Later, his remains would be buried at Shechem, on land originally purchased by his father Jacob and allotted to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons (Josh. 24:32).

>> Is waiting on the Lord something that’s easy or hard for you? How can you take steps to practice an attitude of godly waiting? The book On Waiting Well discusses this topic and is written by this month’s author!