I was doing a study on Moses and the Israelites (think Ex. 13 and Heb. 11) and was struck by Moses' report in verses 17 and 18: "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea."
Isn't that amazing? When we are faced with what we think is a challenging (maybe even terrifying) situation, we can know that God has weighed the options for us and decided THIS is the road we need to take -- this is the road that stretches our faith but doesn't push us to the point of 'changing our minds'!
The Israelites still struggled with fear, even on this supposedly easier path (see Ex. 14:10-12) but they followed Moses into the Red Sea and experienced the provision of God in a way that they may not have known otherwise.
However, knowing the rest of the Israelites’ story provides a warning: just because we've experienced a God-sized miracle once doesn't guarantee that we won't doubt or fret ever again. But that's the subject of another blog!
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