Safe Passage
 by Kay Patterson

Scripture
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, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 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 mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.  (Exodus 14:21-31, NIV).

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. (John 10:9, NIV).

Devotional
Moses parting the Red Sea is a very dramatic example of God physically providing safe passage and deliverance from harm.  From our vantage point, we can clearly see that God is with the Israelites and protecting them.  From the Israelites’ perspective in that moment, though, imagine how terrified they must have felt with waves roaring on each side of them, fleeing certain death at the hands of the Egyptians behind them, and uncertain of what lay ahead and whether the sea would swallow them up.  Most of them likely would have known at least some of the historical accounts of God delivering His people from harm, but parting an entire sea?? That was something new!  But afterward, when they were safe from the Egyptians, they “saw the mighty hand of the Lord” and were then able to “put their trust in him”.

We have the benefit of this story, and other Biblical passages, to draw on in difficult times in order to remember and trust that God protects us, but I admit that I sometimes wish to see the hand of God in the moment so obviously protecting me or loved ones, physically parting the murkiness or laying out a path to get through grief.  

In contrast, John 10:9 offers the imagery of Jesus as a gate, or a door in other translations, to a peaceful, green pasture.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd, providing safe passage to us in a spiritual sense.  We only need to receive the invitation to walk through that friendly, welcoming door, believing and following, in order to find God’s peace and protection.  John 10:9 states that we “will come in and go out”, which to me indicates an expectation that we can’t remain exclusively in the spiritual world.  Rather, we must also live in the physical world, subject to the difficulties, pressures, pain, stress, and uncertainty which confront humans on a daily basis, but we can do so while knowing that God provides us a safe haven, a green pasture, where we can find peace, strength, and respite. Again and again, we can go to Jesus and enter into that pasture to be fed and nourished with God’s love, and grace and mercy.

Prayer
God of Moses and of Jesus and of all people, thank you for your loving protection and for providing a safe harbor during the storms.  Please help us to feel your mighty hand guiding and protecting us.  Please help us to accept your invitation, again and again, to enter into relationship with you through Jesus, the door to peace, daily pasture, and eternal salvation.