The Hand of the Lord Revealed Undoubtedly

Study

While studying 2026-04-15-april-13-19-stand-still-and-see-the-salvation-of-the-lord-exodus-14-18, I’m seeing how stubborn humans can truly be. I have empathy for the Israelites. They went through a lot. They were being abused. Psychologically, it’d be really hard to leave the only thing they grew up knowing, even if it’s horrible. They’d been in Egypt as slaves for 200-450 years.

But the Lord sought to deliver them. And all they needed was a push from a qualified leader (qualified being: one who follows the Lord), and they followed. They all put the blood on the door frames. They waited patiently.

Then the Lord takes them into a strange wilderness. He shadows them with miracles. They are just so naive that when they get to the water they wonder: did God bring us out here to die?

It’s honestly a fair question - they didn’t know a lot about God. We don’t know much about what they knew. They were in apostasy.

And here they are, following a miraculous fire pillar, after Moses did 10 miracles they couldn’t have comprehended (who knows, I’m just speculating). Here they are: “are we just going to die?”

Yet the Lord teaches them: While you might wonder if I did all this work just to bring you here to die, I’m here to teach you: walk.

Moses also says “stand still”, which is funny because the next verse the Lord says “go forth”.

I think both can be true - I think we can stand still in our faith in Christ. But we can also take perspective in that the Lord isn’t going to take away our doubts. Our fears. He’s just going to say “walk”. Or as He say to Enoch, “Go forth” (Moses 6:31-33). Our doubts will always be there. It’s not a bad thing. It’s how we’re made through the fall (Moses 4:16-17). We’re ashamed. We hide. Even if we’ve seen God Almighty, we cover ourselves in shame.

Despite this, the Lord sees our shame, and gives us clothing (Moses 4:27). He gives us light through the pillars (Exodus 13:21-22). He protects our flanks with water Exodus 14:29.

Why? Exodus 14:30-31 states, “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” They saw the consequences of not following the Lord. They saw that the Lord had chosen them (perhaps they were in severe doubt, as we’ll see for the rest of the bible). And they believed. This is what they needed, and they believed.

Conclusion

Doubts are natural. They’re human. They’re consequences of an instinctual misunderstanding of how God operates.

Miracles can happen whenever, but they usually are recognized during deep conflict. All miracles are the acts of God, and when God acts, he heals, repairs, empowers. Thus, he changes, and what we once were was miserable, but what we become is inexpressibly beautiful.