I am Moses, and I stood at the edge of the Red Sea with two million Israelites behind me and Pharaoh's army closing in from behind. This is the story of how God delivered us through the impossible.
We had just left Egypt. After ten devastating plagues - water to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn - Pharaoh had finally released us. The Egyptians thrust us out in haste, loading us with gold and silver. We departed with the bones of Joseph, as he had made our ancestors swear to do.
God did not lead us by the way of the Philistines, though that was shorter. Instead, He led us into the wilderness by the Red Sea. He went before us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But then Pharaoh's heart hardened again. He assembled his chariots - six hundred of his finest - and pursued us.
When the people saw the Egyptian army approaching, they were terrified. 'Did you bring us out here to die?' they cried. 'It would have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness!' Their fear was understandable. Before us lay an uncrossable sea. Behind us came an unstoppable army. We were trapped.
But I knew our God. 'Do not be afraid,' I told them. 'Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.'
The Lord commanded me to raise my staff and stretch out my hand over the sea. As I obeyed, the pillar of cloud moved from before us to behind us, placing itself between us and the Egyptian army. To them it was darkness; to us it was light.
All through the night, a strong east wind drove back the waters. The sea divided. I watched in awe as walls of water rose up on either side, revealing dry ground where moments before there had been only waves. The Israelites walked through the sea on dry land, water like crystal walls on their left and right.
The Egyptians followed in their chariots, blinded by their own fury. But in the morning watch, the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and threw them into confusion. Wheels came off chariots. Horses stumbled. 'Let us flee!' they cried. 'The Lord fights for Israel!'
The Lord told me to stretch out my hand again. The waters rushed back, covering the chariots, horsemen, and entire army. Not one survived.
That day, the people saw the great power of the Lord and feared Him. They believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. Miriam, my sister, took up a tambourine, and all the women followed her, dancing and singing: 'Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.'
When you face your own Red Sea - an impossible situation with no way forward and no way back - remember this day. The God who parted the waters still makes a way where there seems to be no way.