I’m sure, like me, you have prayed for God to do something first. Then you will do what is needed or intended. You may have asked him to give you a sign that he is with you. Or you might have asked him to confirm in some way the particular thing he wants you to do. We want him to show up and act so we have courage for what we face.
Sometimes, however, God doesn’t answer our requests to see his action. It’s as if he’s waiting for us to make the first move.
God wants us to step out first—and then we will see him at work.
This is what we find happening when Moses and the Israelites were stuck between the encroaching Egyptians on one side and the Red Sea on the other.
We already discovered that the two instructions—Moses told the people to stand firm. God told them to get moving—do not contradict each other. They are an invitation for us to do both.
There are three steps we can take when we’re not sure what to do next.
Here, we’re looking at that third and final step.
The first step was to stand firm—this is an invitation for us to keep our eyes on God. We are to expect God to deliver us from our fears. We are to expect his help now, not some time in the future but in this life, in the situation we face today. We are to have faith in God today with whatever you are facing.
The second step is to be still—to stay calm and be at peace. The word in Hebrew means to be silent. If you have been crying out to God recently, take the step to be silent, to be calm and trust that he has “got this.”
Yet, perhaps the most important step is the third step—to move. That takes real faith and trust.
God told Moses to act.
Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground (Exodus 14:15-16).
Really? Moses lifting his hand and stretching out his hand could part the waters of a sea? Of course not. But, God could do it.
So how do we pray and what do we do when we want God to show up?
We cry out to God for help but we don’t stay paralyzed by fear. We move in the direction we believe he wants us to go. And we expect to be amazed by God and what he does.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left (Exodus 14:21-22).
Maybe you’re facing a decision, a challenge, or just feel stuck, waiting for God to move. But what if God is actually waiting on you to take the first step of faith?
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).
Pray
