"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great
waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep."
(Psalm cvii. 23, 24.) How true is this! and yet our coward hearts do
so shrink from those "great waters." We prefer carrying on our
traffic in the shallows, and, as a result, we fail to see "the works"
and "wonders" of our God; for these can only be seen and known "in the
deep."
It is in the day of trial and difficulty that the soul experiences
something of the deep and untold blessedness of being able to count on
God. Were all to go on smoothly, this would not be so. It is not in
gliding along the surface of a tranquil lake that the reality of the
Master's presence is felt; but actually when the tempest roars, and
the waves roll over the ship. The Lord does not hold out to us the
prospect of exemption from trial and tribulation; quite the opposite:
He tells us we shall have to meet both the one and the other; but He
promises to be with us in them, and this is infinitely better. God's
presence _in_ the trial is much better than exemption _from_ the
trial. The sympathy of His heart _with us_ is sweeter far than the
power of His hand _for us_. The Master's presence with His faithful
servants while passing through the furnace was better far than the
display of His power to keep them out of it. (Dan. iii.) We would
frequently desire to be allowed to pass on our way without trial, but
this would involve serious loss. The Lord's presence is never so sweet
as in moments of appalling difficulty.
Thus it was in Israel's case, as recorded in this chapter. They are
brought into an overwhelming difficulty: they are called to "do
business in great waters:" "they are at their wit's end." Pharaoh,
repenting himself of having let them go out of his land, determines
to make one desperate effort to recover them. "And he made ready his
chariot, and took his people with him; and he took six hundred chosen
chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one
of them.... And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted
up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they
were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord."
Here was a deeply trying scene--one in which human effort could avail
nothing. As well might they have attempted to put back with a straw
the ocean's mighty tide, as seek to extricate themselves by aught that
they could do. The sea was before them, Pharaoh's hosts behind them,
and the mountains around them. And all this, be it observed, permitted
and ordered of God. He had marked out their position before
"Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon."
Moreover, He permitted Pharaoh to come upon them. And why? Just to
display Himself in the salvation of His people, and the total
overthrow of their enemies. "To Him that divided the Red Sea into
parts: for His mercy endureth forever: and made Israel to pass through
the midst of it: for His mercy endureth forever: but overthrew Pharaoh
and his host in the Red Sea: for His mercy endureth forever." (Ps.
cxxxvi.)
There is not so much as a single position in all the desert-wanderings
of God's redeemed, the boundaries of which are not marked off, with
studious accuracy, by the hand of unerring wisdom and infinite love.
The special bearings and peculiar influences of each position are
carefully arranged. The Pi-hahiroths and the Migdols are all ordered
with immediate reference to the moral condition of those whom God is
conducting through the windings and labyrinths of the wilderness, and
also to the display of His own character. Unbelief may ofttimes
suggest the inquiry, Why is it thus? God knows why; and He will,
without doubt, reveal the why whenever the revelation would promote
His glory and His people's good. How often do we feel disposed to
question as to the why and the wherefore of our being placed in such
and such circumstances! How often do we perplex ourselves as to the
reason of our being exposed to such and such trials! How much better
to bow our heads in meek subjection, and say, "It is well," and "it
shall be well"! When God fixes our position for us, we may rest
assured it is a wise and salutary one; and even when we foolishly and
willfully choose a position for ourselves, He most graciously
overrules our folly, and causes the influences of our self-chosen
circumstances to work for our spiritual benefit.
It is when the people of God are brought into the greatest straits and
difficulties, that they are favored with the finest displays of God's
character and actings; and for this reason He ofttimes leads them into
a trying position, in order that He may the more markedly show
Himself. He could have conducted Israel through the Red Sea, and far
beyond the reach of Pharaoh's hosts, before ever the latter had
started from Egypt; but that would not have so fully glorified His own
name, or so entirely confounded the enemy, upon whom He designed to
"get Him honor." We too frequently lose sight of this great truth, and
the consequence is that our hearts give way in the time of trial. If
we could only look upon a difficult crisis as an occasion of bringing
out, on our behalf, the sufficiency of divine grace, it would enable
us to preserve the balance of our souls, and to glorify God, even in
the deepest waters.
We feel disposed, it may be, to marvel at Israel's language on the
occasion now before us. We may feel at a loss to account for it; but
the more we know of our own evil hearts of unbelief, the more we shall
see how marvelously like them we are. They would seem to have
forgotten the recent display of divine power on their behalf. They had
seen the gods of Egypt judged, and the power of Egypt laid prostrate
beneath the stroke of Jehovah's omnipotent hand; they had seen the
iron chain of Egyptian bondage riven, and the furnace quenched by the
same hand;--all these things they had seen, and yet the moment a dark
cloud appeared upon their horizon, their confidence gave way, their
hearts failed, and they gave utterance to their unbelieving murmurings
in the following language: "Because there were no graves in Egypt,
hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou
dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?... It had been
better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the
wilderness." (Ver. 11, 12.) Thus is "blind unbelief" ever "sure to
err, and scan God's ways in vain." This unbelief is the same in all
ages. It led David, in an evil hour, to say, "I shall one day perish
by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than that I should
speedily escape into the land of the Philistines." (1 Sam. xxvii. 1.)
And how did it turn out? Saul fell on Mount Gilboa, and David's throne
was established forever. Again, it led Elijah the Tishbite, in a
moment of deep depression, to flee for his life from the wrathful
threatenings of Jezebel. How did it turn out? Jezebel was dashed to
pieces on the pavement, and Elijah was taken in a chariot of fire to
heaven.
So it was with Israel in their very first moment of trial. They really
thought that the Lord had taken such pains to deliver them out of
Egypt merely to let them die in the wilderness. They imagined that
they had been preserved by the blood of the paschal lamb in order that
they might be buried in the wilderness. Thus it is that unbelief ever
reasons. It leads us to interpret God in the presence of the
difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the presence of
God. Faith gets behind the difficulty and there finds God, in all His
faithfulness, love, and power. It is the believer's privilege ever to
be in the presence of God. He has been introduced thither by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing should be suffered to take him
thence. The place itself he never can lose, inasmuch as his Head and
Representative, Christ, occupies it on his behalf. But although he
cannot lose the thing itself, he can very easily lose the enjoyment of
it--the experience and power of it. Whenever his difficulties come
between his heart and the Lord, he is evidently not enjoying the
Lord's presence, but suffering in the presence of his difficulties.
Just as when a cloud comes between us and the sun, it robs us, for the
time, of the enjoyment of his beams. It does not prevent him from
shining, it merely hinders our enjoyment of him. Exactly so is it when
we allow trials and sorrows, difficulties and perplexities, to hide
from our souls the bright beams of our Father's countenance, which
ever shine, with changeless lustre, in the face of Jesus Christ. There
is no difficulty too great for our God; yea, the greater the
difficulty, the more room there is for Him to act in His proper
character, as the God of all power and grace. No doubt Israel's
position, in the opening of our chapter, was a deeply trying one,--to
flesh and blood, perfectly overwhelming; but then the Maker of heaven
and earth was there, and they had but to use Him.
Yet, alas! my reader, how speedily we fail when trial arises! These
sentiments sound very nicely on the ear, and look very well upon paper
(and, blessed be God, they are divinely true); but then the thing is
to practice them when opportunity offers. It is in the practice of
them that their power and blessedness are really proved. "If any man
will _do_ His will, he shall _know_ of the doctrine, whether it be of
God." (John vii. 17.)
"And Moses said unto the people, 'Fear ye not, stand still, and see
the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day; for the
Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day ye shall see them again no more
forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.'"
(Ver. 13, 14.) Here is the first attitude which faith takes in the
presence of a trial. "_Stand still._" This is impossible to flesh and
blood. All who know, in any measure, the restlessness of the human
heart under anticipated trial and difficulty, will be able to form
some conception of what is involved in standing still. Nature must be
_doing_ something. It will rush hither and thither. It would fain have
some hand in the matter. And although it may attempt to justify and
sanctify its worthless doings, by bestowing upon them the imposing and
popular title of "a legitimate use of means," yet are they the plain
and positive fruits of unbelief, which always shuts out God, and sees
naught save the dark cloud of its own creation. Unbelief creates or
magnifies difficulties, and then sets us about removing them by our
own bustling and fruitless activities, which, in reality, do but raise
a dust around us which prevents our seeing God's salvation.
Faith, on the contrary, raises the soul above the difficulty, straight
to God Himself, and enables one to "stand still." We gain nothing by
our restless and anxious efforts. "We cannot make one hair white or
black," nor "add one cubit to our stature." What could Israel do at
the Red Sea? Could they dry it up? Could they level the mountains?
Could they annihilate the hosts of Egypt? Impossible! There they were,
inclosed within an impenetrable wall of difficulties, in view of which
nature could but tremble and feel its own perfect impotency. But this
was just the time for God to act. When unbelief is driven from the
scene, then God can enter; and, in order to get a proper view of His
actings, we must "stand still." Every movement of nature is, so far as
it goes, a positive hindrance to our perception and enjoyment of
divine interference on our behalf.
This is true of us in every single stage of our history. It is true of
us as sinners when, under the uneasy sense of sin upon the conscience,
we are tempted to resort to our own doings in order to obtain relief.
Then, truly, we must "stand still" in order to "see the salvation of
God." For what could we do in the matter of making an atonement for
sin? Could we have stood with the Son of God upon the cross? Could we
have accompanied Him down into the "horrible pit and the miry clay"?
Could we have forced our passage upward to that eternal rock on which,
in resurrection, He has taken His stand? Every right mind will at once
pronounce the thought to be a daring blasphemy. God is alone in
redemption; and as for us, we have but to "stand still, and see the
salvation of God." The very fact of its being God's salvation proves
that man has naught to do in it.
The same is true of us, from the moment we have entered upon our
Christian career. In every fresh difficulty, be it great or small, our
wisdom is to stand still--to cease from our own works, and find our
sweet repose in God's salvation. Nor can we make any distinction as to
difficulties. We cannot say that there are some trifling difficulties
which we ourselves can compass, while there are others in which naught
save the hand of God can avail. No; all are alike beyond us. We are as
little able to change the color of a hair as to remove a mountain,--to
form a blade of grass as to create a world. All are alike to us, and
all are alike to God. We have only, therefore, in confiding faith, to
cast ourselves on Him who "humbleth Himself [alike] to behold the
things that are in heaven and on earth." We sometimes find ourselves
carried triumphantly through the heaviest trials, while at other times
we quail, falter, and break down under the most ordinary
dispensations. Why is this? Because, in the former, we are constrained
to roll our burden over on the Lord; whereas, in the latter, we
foolishly attempt to carry it ourselves. The Christian is, in himself,
if he only realized it, like an exhausted receiver, in which a guinea
and a feather have equal momenta.
"The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." Precious
assurance! How eminently calculated to tranquilize the spirit in view
of the most appalling difficulties and dangers! The Lord not only
places Himself between us and our sins, but also between us and our
circumstances. By doing the former, He gives us peace of conscience;
by doing the latter, He gives us peace of heart. That the two things
are perfectly distinct, every experienced Christian knows. Very many
have peace of conscience, who have not peace of heart. They have,
through grace and by faith, found Christ, in the divine efficacy of
His blood, between them and all their sins; but they are not able, in
the same simple way, to realize Him as standing, in His divine wisdom,
love, and power, between them and their circumstances. This makes a
material difference in the practical condition of the soul, as well as
in the character of one's testimony. Nothing tends more to glorify the
name of Jesus than that quiet repose of spirit which results from
having Him between us and everything that could be a matter of anxiety
to our hearts. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
But some feel disposed to ask the question, "Are we not to do
anything?" This maybe answered by asking another, namely, What can we
do? All who really know themselves must answer, Nothing. If,
therefore, we can do nothing, had we not better "stand still"? If the
Lord is acting for us, had we not better stand back? Shall we run
before Him? Shall we busily intrude ourselves upon His sphere of
action? Shall we come in His way? There can be no possible use in two
acting, when one is so perfectly competent to do all. No one would
think of bringing a lighted candle to add brightness to the sun at
midday: and yet the man who would do so might well be accounted wise,
in comparison with him who attempts to assist God by his bustling
officiousness.
However, when God, in His great mercy, opens the way, faith can walk
therein. It only ceases from man's way in order to walk in God's. "And
the Lord said unto Moses, 'Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto
the children of Israel that they go forward.'" It is only when we have
learnt to "stand still" that we are able effectually to go forward. To
attempt the latter until we have learnt the former is sure to issue in
the exposure of our folly and weakness. It is therefore true wisdom,
in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to "stand still"--to wait
only upon God, and He will assuredly open a way for us; and then we
can peacefully and happily "go forward." There is no uncertainty when
God makes a way for us; but every self-devised path must prove a path
of doubt and hesitation. The unregenerate man may move along with
great apparent firmness and decision in his own ways; but one of the
most distinct elements in the new creation is self-distrust, and the
element which answers thereto is confidence in God. It is when our
eyes have seen God's salvation that we can walk therein; but this can
never be distinctly seen until we have been brought to the end of our
own poor doings.
There is peculiar force and beauty in the expression, "_See_ the
salvation of God." The very fact of our being called to "see" God's
salvation, proves that the salvation is a complete one. It teaches
that salvation is a thing wrought out and revealed by God, to be seen
and enjoyed by us. It is not a thing made up partly of God's doing and
partly of man's. Were it so, it could not be called _God's_ salvation.
In order to be His, it must be wholly divested of everything
pertaining to man. The only possible effect of human efforts is to
raise a dust which obscures the view of God's salvation.
"Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." Moses himself
seems to have been brought to a stand, as it appears from the Lord's
question--"Wherefore criest thou to Me?" Moses could tell the people
to "stand still, and see the salvation of God," while his own spirit
was giving forth its exercises in an earnest cry to God. However,
there is no use in crying when we ought to be acting; just as there is
no use in acting when we ought to be waiting. Yet such is ever our
way. We attempt to move forward when we ought to stand still, and we
stand still when we ought to move forward. In Israel's case, the
question might spring up in the heart, Whither are we to go? To all
appearance, there lay an insurmountable barrier in the way of any
movement forward. How were they to go through the sea? This was the
point. Nature could never solve this question. But we may rest assured
that God never gives a command without, at the same time,
communicating the power to obey. The real condition of the heart may
be tested by the command; but the soul that is, by grace, disposed to
obey, receives power from above to do so. When Christ commanded the
man with the withered hand to stretch it forth, the man might
naturally have said, How can I stretch forth an arm which hangs dead
by my side? But he did not raise any question whatever, for with the
command, and from the same source, came the power to obey.
Thus, too, in Israel's case, we see that with the command to go
forward came the provision of grace. "But lift thou up thy rod, and
stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of
Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." Here was
the path of faith. The hand of God opens the way for us to take the
first step, and this is all that faith ever asks. God never gives
guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get
light for the next. This keeps the heart in abiding dependence upon
God. "By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land." It is
evident that the sea was not divided throughout at once. Had it been
so, it would have been "sight" and not "faith." It does not require
faith to begin a journey when I can see all the way through; but to
begin when I can merely see the first step, this is faith. The sea
opened as Israel moved forward, so that for every fresh step they
needed to be cast upon God. Such was the path along which the redeemed
of the Lord moved, under His own conducting hand. They passed through
the dark waters of death, and found these very waters to be "a wall
unto them, on their right hand and on their left."
The Egyptians could not move in such a path as this. They moved on
because they saw the way open before them: with them it was sight, and
not faith,--"Which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." When
people _assay_ to do what faith alone can accomplish, they only
encounter defeat and confusion. The path along which God calls His
people to walk is one which nature can never tread. "Flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. xv. 50.), neither can it
walk in the ways of God. Faith is the great characteristic principle
of God's kingdom, and faith alone can enable us to walk in God's ways.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. xi.) It
glorifies God exceedingly when we move on with Him, as it were,
blindfold. It proves that we have more confidence in His eyesight than
in our own. If I know that God is looking out for me, I may well close
my eyes, and move on in holy calmness and stability. In human affairs,
we know that when there is a sentinel or watchman at his post, others
can sleep quietly. How much more may we rest in perfect security when
we know that He who neither slumbers nor sleeps has His eye upon us,
and His everlasting arms around us!
"And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed
and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before
their face, and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the
Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to
them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one came not
near the other all the night." (Ver. 19, 20.) Jehovah placed Himself
right between Israel and the enemy: this was protection indeed. Before
ever Pharaoh could touch a hair of Israel's head, he should make his
way through the very pavilion of the Almighty--yea, through the
Almighty Himself. Thus it is that God ever places Himself between His
people and every enemy, so that "no weapon formed against them can
prosper." He has placed Himself between us and our sins; and it is our
happy privilege to find Him between us and every one and every thing
that could be against us. This is the true way in which to find both
peace of heart and peace of conscience. The believer may institute a
diligent and anxious search for his sins, but he cannot find them.
Why? Because God is between him and them. He has cast all our sins
behind His back, while, at the same time, He sheds forth upon us the
light of His reconciled countenance.
In the same manner, the believer may look for his difficulties, and
not find them, because God is between him and them. If, therefore, the
eye, instead of resting on our sins and sorrows, could rest only upon
Christ, it would sweeten many a bitter cup, and enlighten many a
gloomy hour. But one finds constantly that nine-tenths of our trials
and sorrows are made up of anticipated or imaginary evils, which only
exist in our own disordered, because unbelieving, minds. May my reader
know the solid peace, both of heart and conscience, which results
from having Christ, in all His fullness, between him and _all_ his
sins and _all_ his sorrows.
It is at once most solemn and interesting to note the double aspect of
the "pillar" in this chapter. "It was a cloud and darkness" to the
Egyptians, but "it gave light by night" to Israel. How like the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ! Truly, that cross has a double aspect
likewise. It forms the foundation of the believer's peace, and, at the
same time, seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The self-same
blood which purges the believer's conscience and gives him perfect
peace, stains this earth and consummates its guilt. The very mission
of the Son of God which strips the world of its cloak, and leaves it
wholly without excuse, clothes the Church with a fair mantle of
righteousness, and fills her mouth with ceaseless praise. The very
same Lamb who will terrify, by His unmitigated wrath, all tribes and
classes of earth, will lead, by His gentle hand, His blood-bought
flock through the green pastures and beside the still waters forever.
(Compare Rev. vi. 15-17 with vii. 13-17.)
The close of our chapter shows us Israel triumphant on the shore of
the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's hosts submerged beneath its waves. The
fears of the former and the boastings of the latter had both alike
been proved utterly groundless: Jehovah's glorious work had
annihilated both the one and the other. The same waters which formed a
wall for God's redeemed, formed a grave for Pharaoh. Thus it is ever:
those who walk by faith find a path to walk in, while all who assay
to do so find a grave. This is a solemn truth, which is not in any
wise weakened by the fact that Pharaoh was acting in avowed and
positive hostility to God when he "assayed" to pass through the Red
Sea. It will ever be found true that all who attempt to imitate
faith's actings will be confounded. Happy are they who are enabled,
however feebly, to walk by faith. They are moving along a path of
unspeakable blessedness,--a path which, though it may be marked by
failure and infirmity, is nevertheless "begun, continued, and ended in
God." O, that we may all enter more fully into the divine reality, the
calm elevation, and the holy independence of this path!
We ought not to turn from this fruitful section of our book without a
reference to 1 Cor. x, in which we have an allusion to "the cloud and
the sea."--"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were _under the cloud_, and all
passed _through the sea_; and were all baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea." (Ver. 1, 2.) There is much deep and precious
instruction for the Christian in this passage. The apostle goes on to
say, "Now these things were our types," thus furnishing us with a
divine warrant for interpreting Israel's baptism "in the cloud and in
the sea" in a typical way; and, assuredly, nothing could be more
deeply significant or practical. It was as a people thus baptized that
they entered upon their wilderness journey, for which provision was
made in "the spiritual meat" and "spiritual drink" provided by the
hand of love. In other words, they were typically a people dead to
Egypt and all pertaining thereto. The cloud and the sea were to them
what the cross and grave of Christ are to us. The cloud secured them
from their enemies; the sea separated them from Egypt: the cross, in
like manner, shields us from all that could be against us, and we
stand at heaven's side of the empty tomb of Jesus. Here we commence
our wilderness journey,--here we begin to taste the heavenly Manna,
and to drink of the streams which emanate from "that spiritual Rock,"
while, as a pilgrim people, we make our way onward to that land of
rest of the which God has spoken to us.
I would further add here, that my reader should seek to understand the
difference between the Red Sea and Jordan. They both have their
antitype in the death of Christ; but in the former we see separation
from Egypt; in the latter, introduction into the land of Canaan. The
believer is not merely separated from this present evil world by the
cross of Christ, but he is quickened out of the grave of Christ,
raised up together, and made to sit together in Christ, in the
heavenlies. (Eph. ii. 5, 6.) Hence, though surrounded by the things of
Egypt, he is, as to his actual experience, in the wilderness; while,
at the same time, he is borne upward, by the energy of faith, to that
place where Jesus sits, at the right hand of God. Thus, the believer
is not merely "forgiven all trespasses," but actually associated
_with_ a risen Christ in heaven;--he is not merely saved _by_ Christ,
but linked _with_ Him forever. Nothing short of this could either
satisfy God's affections or actualize His purposes in reference to the
Church.
Reader, do we understand these things? do we believe them? are we
realizing them? do we manifest the power of them? Blessed be the grace
that has made them unalterably true with respect to every member of
the body of Christ, whether it be an eye or an eye-lash, a hand or a
foot. Their truth, therefore, does not depend upon our manifestation,
our realization, or our understanding, but upon "THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF
CHRIST," which has canceled all our guilt and laid the foundation of
all God's counsels respecting us. Here is true rest for every broken
heart and every burdened conscience.