A Trap : Leads To Singing and Dancing

God’s children came out of Egypt boldly. With God by their side, they felt strong and like they could handle anything. Nothing could slow them down! Right?!

But God knew something they didn’t know yet. Even though they felt strong right now, they still had pretty weak minds. His children needed to learn how to be His children — how to live, how to work together, how to trust, and how to take the fight to the enemy. Because of this, God knew He couldn’t take them the fastest way to the Promised Land. There was still much they needed to learn, and it was going to take some wilderness walking to learn it.

But God was going to help them. He would lead them every step, step, step of the way. So, during the day, there was a tall, thick pillar of cloud in front of them. God was in the cloud! They would follow that cloud wherever it went.

During the night, instead of the cloud, there was a tall, flaming pillar of fire to lead them. God was in the fire!

So, whether it was day or night, God was always leading them with the cloud or fire. Step, Step, Step through the wilderness.

Then God told Moses, “Moses, I want My people to make their camp by the sea. Pharaoh is going to hear about your wilderness walking and think that you are weak and confused. He will think, “Ah ha!” and try to trap you, but really Pharaoh is going to be the trapped one. But I will gain respect from all the Egyptians.”

Sure enough, the Pharaoh’s heart got hard when he heard that all of his slaves had left. He got his army ready — his fastest horses and riders and his 600 best chariots.

Meanwhile, the children of Israel were camped happily by the sea, right where God had put them, when suddenly they looked up and saw…. thousands of Egyptian horses and their riders and all the chariots rushing, rushing, rushing towards them! They were terrified! They looked at the sea ahead of them — there was nowhere to run forward! They looked at the Egyptians coming behind them — there was nowhere to run back! Aaah! It was a trap! (Or rather, they felt like it was. But really it was going to be a trap for the Egyptians. God had a perfect plan all ready.)

With one look at those chariots, all the people’s feelings of being strong and powerful melted away. But instead of choosing to be courageous and trusting anyway, they started whining, crying, panicking, and pouting. “Waaa! Waaa! Why did you bring us out of slavery in Egypt just so we could die out here?” they cried to Moses. “We told you to leave us alone in Egypt, but you wouldn’t! We wish we had stayed there as slaves!”

What??!! They were saying they would rather be slaves than to have to trust God! That’s crazy! It was like they had totally forgotten about how strong God was. They had already forgotten that God had just rescued them with 10 Incredibly Credible whammies!

Not to mention, right in front of them was God’s tall cloud leading them every step!

What’s not to Trust, huh? They need to get some Heaven-Seeing-Eyes pretty quickly, don’t they?

Moses tried to help and give them courage. He told them, “Don’t be afraid. Stand steady. Today God will save you! Take a good look at all those enemy horses and riders and chariots you see rushing toward you. Because after today, you will NEVER see them again. The Lord will fight for you. You can be still, still, still.”

Think about it…

Would you be able to stand still, still, still if you saw an army of horses and chariots coming after you? Yes, you could! The people just needed to remember, remember, remember all that God had just done for them. Like those 10 Incredibly Credible whammies!

Do you want to know a special secret? I have a special little box that I have had for a looong time. In this special little box, I keep little notes that remind me of all the big special things that God has done for me that I don’t want to ever forget. Maybe you should have a box (or a journal), too. And if you feel afraid, you can look in your box, like I do, and make sure you remember, remember, remember all that God has done for you.

God said to Moses, “Why are the people Waaa-Waaa-Waaain’? Tell them it’s time to get move, move, movin’ now! Moses, lift up your staff toward the sea, and it will split into two parts. Then My people can walk through the sea on dry ground. The Egyptians will follow you into the sea, but don’t worry, it’s a trap to show them My awesome power, again.”

The angel of God and the tall cloud then moved and went behind the people… like a huge shield protecting His children. The tall, thick cloud blocked the enemies and kept His children safe from the enemies all night long, even though they were right behind them!

Moses held out his staff toward the sea.

All night long, God sent a strong wind to blow the waters of the sea. All night long, the sea was splitting, splitting, splitting apart.

In the morning, there, between two giant walls of water on either side, was a wide path of dry dirt to walk on! (Not cold water, not mud, but dry dirt, where a big sea had been before!) God’s children weren’t trapped anymore (but somebody else was about to be!).

So the people went step, step, step on dry ground through the middle of the sea!

Those horses and riders and chariots rushed after them! But those horses and riders and chariots rushed right into God’s trap. God made the horses and riders and chariots panic! He messed up the wheels of the chariots, and made all the riders afraid. They couldn’t drive anymore, and the Egyptians yelled, “Yikes!!! Run away! Run away! The Lord is fighting for His people against us!”

During the confusion, all of God’s children made it through safely to the other side of the sea!

“Now!” God told Moses, “Hold out your staff toward the sea again, so the water flows back to how it was before. Now!” Crash! The walls of water fell down, the sea went back to being like a normal sea, and all the horses and riders and chariots were washed away, away, away by the rushing water. Not even one made it out.

Do you think God’s children then saw how wrong they were to not trust God? Yes. Their “Waaa, waaa, waaa” turned into “Waaahooo-Waaahooo-Waaahooo!” Their God was BIG STUFF — their HERO!

Moses and all the people started singing and dancing about what God had done. And Miriam, Moses’ sister, picked up her tambourine and danced while she sang…

“I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and the rider He’s thrown into the sea!”

All that singing and dancing sure made God smile! But don’t you think it would have made Him smile even Bigger if His children had been singing and dancing even before they saw how God was going to rescue them?! He was their God! He was their Daddy! He was their Rescuer, and they could trust Him no matter how things looked with their earth-eyes. Let’s sing and dance for Him even in the middle of a problem to show Him that we trust Him!