Red Sea Rules – Part 9

Exodus 14:30 -31 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

The author says that from this verse we learn that we should view our current crises as a faith builder for the future. We may not always know why God allows problems, but we do know He intends for them to deepen our faith, make us more mature and more like Christ. They make us stronger after we’ve come through them.

The Israelites benefited from the trial. It says they “feared the Lord and believed Him.” Their faith was beefed up for the challenges ahead. Faith grows. It gets stronger during different seasons of our life.

One definition of faith is found in Luke 1:45 and it’s what Elizabeth said about Mary: Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!

In Romans 4:20 – 21 Paul wrote about Abraham: 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

And of course the most well known definition of faith in the Bible is Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

For Christians, faith is making reasonable assumptions about God’s care and control over our lives, based on His scriptural promises whether we understand or appreciate what’s going on.

God is like a teacher. After teaching awhile we get quizzes and tests to see how much we’ve learned.

In this Bible story, God gave them instructions through Moses and then brought them to the edge of the Red Sea and there was the test. Would they apply His promises to their problem?

In another Bible story Jesus taught the disciples on the mountainside, then loaded them into a boat and sent them into a huge storm.

Same with us. At church we hear the Word of God, at home we do our devotions and study scripture. And then the trials come to see how much we’ve learned. They give us the opportunity to put His teachings into practice. As we trust Him and pass each test we are strengthened for the future.

So here’s the principle: our faith grows when we choose to apply God’s promises to today’s problems and use the experiences to mature us for tomorrow’s challenges.

That’s why the Bible is so full of promises. We never encounter any situation for which God has not provided a promise to bear us through it. There is no condition we can be in that we don't have a promise for. The way to strengthen your faith is to focus it upon particular promises that speak to what you’re going through. Find and claim a promise of God for your situation.