“for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care. Today, if only you would hear His voice, ‘Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.’ “
Psalm 95:7-9
Aquariums provide an exciting and safe way to explore the underwater creations of the Lord. In preschool class, our story was on Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery, by parting the Red Sea. Being reminded of the aquarium, it became the illustration that was used to describe what it might have been like to walk through those waters! The Lord was showing His great power to save and giving the Israelites the deliverance they had desired.
The exodus of the Israelites illustrates not only the freedom that being a child of the Lord means but the trials in which we often go through. The Lord did not leave His people but provided a unique way of deliverance. The people could not go around the water, over it or under it, the only way is through it. Often we may ask why are we going through various trials and persecutions, but later sometimes it may be revealed how what we experienced was used in another way.
The Israelites were able to go through safely, see the power of the Lord themselves. This experience is what they would need to fight battles later on, and the story that their enemies would soon hear about which caused many of them to tremble in fear at the mere mention of their name. At the end of the path, they were able to look back once more at where they had been, seeing their enemies for the last time before the Lord closed the waters over them. They no longer saw their enemies, Egypt, or the enslavement of which they had been in for over four hundred years. We often beg for the trial to be over, the problem to disappear, but sometimes it is these very experiences that leave us in awe and wonder at the deliverance when it comes! When deliverance tarries or we do not get the answer we desire, we can still look to the Lord and wait for His answers to come.
Why do we test the Lord when we see what He has done and do not trust what He can do now? Our hearts can grow cold as we imagine all the what ifs of situations, but today the Lord reminds us to keep our hearts soft and moldable to His will. For the Israelites and for us today, there will be situations and circumstances that we cannot get over, under or around, but only when we must go through them. Only do we walk into the trial do we see that it is the Lord guiding us to safety. If we allow Him, we can take the journey and see the circumstances behind the aquarium glass and walk on dry ground to the other side. Once on the other side we can then testify of His provision.