Exodus 14:16 But lift you up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it… Regarding this passage of the Red Sea as typical of some events in the pilgrim-life of every Christian, let us say — I. WE ARE NOT DELIVERED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE LIFE OF FAITH FROM ALL THE OLD ENEMIES OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE. II. The hour when old enemies return may reveal the fact that NO ACCUMULATION OF CONFIDENCE IN GOD HAS BEEN GAINED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF PAST DELIVERANCES. To most men the great events of life seem to be disconnected. They bear no relation one to another. If Fremont's Peak and Pike's Peak and the Spanish Peaks stood apart, connected by no mountain-ridge, no great results would come from them upon soil or climate. They would not determine the rain-fall or fix the trend of the rivers. But, linked together by lofty mountain-chains, they become part of the vast water-shed of a continent, fixed the length and course of the rivers and causing the humid atmosphere and fertile soil on one side, the dry air and arid wastes upon the other. So the great facts of Divine Providence, isolated and separate one from another, have no determinative influence over life. But linked together they make its moral atmosphere. III. SOME OLD ENEMIES OF THE SOUL MAY BE UTTERLY DESTROYED. Evil companionships abandoned, etc. IV. THE PROVIDENTIAL WAY OF DELIVERANCE IS OFTEN MYSTERIOUS. V. DELIVERANCE CAME TO ISRAEL NOT BY HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT, BUT BY THE POWER OF GOD. The most solemn hours of life are not times of great endeavour and of high achievement. They are times when we are called to" Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Such an hour is that when we begin the life of faith, not a time of achievement when, by mental struggle and spiritual travail, we win the favour of God. It is rather the time of self-surrender, when unreservedly we commit our ways to the Lord, that He may work for us, and in us, His redeeming work. (W. G. Sperry.) Parallel Verses KJV: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. |
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