Day 22 or January 22. Actions speak louder than words. Our thoughts today are focused
in on Exodus chapter 14 verse 15. Then the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out
to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Now the big picture surrounding this verse. After
the Passover, the Pharaoh finally agrees to the Hebrews leaving. As they leave Egypt,
they would normally have turned left and headed north, but they didn't. Instead, they turned
right and headed south. By taking this route, they miss the land of the Philistines, which
was approximately the Gaza Strip of today, where the Philistines lived in those days.
However, this obedience takes them to the Red Sea, for a miracle. God guided His people
by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire at night. Pharaoh soon realized that
he had set free a vast army of free labor, so he arranged for a chariot army to chase
after them. Already the Hebrews were moaning and asking why Moses had brought them this
far only for them to die. Moses took the initiative and told the people not to fear. All is in
hand and God will rescue us. What follows is one of the Old Testament's best-known
miracles. The sea opens up before the Hebrews, who safely cross on dry land. As the Egyptian
army attempts to follow, the sea, which had been standing vertical, creating a pathway
for the Hebrews to cross on dry land, falls back into place and drowns the whole Egyptian
army.
Now our action step for today. At this pivotal moment in history, Moses stands before the
Red Sea, with the Egyptian army in hot pursuit, and God tells him to stop talking and stop
moving. Moses obeys and then God does his part. Truly there is a time for words and
a time for action, a time for praying and a time for doing. It can often be a cop-out
when we say that we'll pray for a situation, when really we should be doing something.
Have you ever been praying instead of doing? Have you ever been doing instead of praying?
Pray when you can't do, but do when you can.