What is faith? What is faith in God? How much faith do you have? How much faith do we need? These are questions that we need to answer.
When studying faith in the Bible, a key passage to dig into is Hebrews 11. This long chapter is entirely dedicated to the topic of faith. In it, God lists the names of many Bible characters who He said had faith. In that list, we are not surprised to find the names of Able, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David, however, we may be surprised to find names like Sarah, Jacob, Barak, and Samson. We see them doubting God, scheming, fearful, or sinful, yet God honoured them for their faith.
Another group that God said had faith is the children of Israel. That is surprising since they so often questioned and disobeyed God. Yet, in Hebrews 11:29, God honoured Israel for their faith in crossing the Red Sea.
For the next few minutes, I want us to focus our attention on that verse and the implications we can gain from it. To do this, we will need to mark our place here in Hebrews 11 and turn back to Exodus 14.
Moses had just led Israel out of Egyptian bondage. They were fleeing toward the Promised Land. To spare them from immediate war with the people of Canaan, God led them through the wilderness. Having travelled for several days, they came to a valley between the mountains that led down to the Red Sea. While camping there, scouts brought word that the Egyptian army was in hot pursuit of them. Soon the dust raised by the rushing army could be seen by all. We will pick up the narrative in Exodus 14:10-12. Read.
Faith is acting upon trusted information. In this case, faith would be staying calm and trusting that God, who had showed himself faithful during the plagues, would show himself faithful once again during the Red Sea trail.
1. Israel seemed to lack faith in God when they saw the Egyptians coming (Ex 14:10-12).
a. They were sore afraid.
1) They feared death.
2) They were angry with Moses.
b. They wished they had remained in Egypt.
1) They wished they had remained slaves.
2) They saw slavery better than death in the wilderness.
3) The bottom line is that they were terrified.
c. During trials often we do not think rationally.
1) They had no faith in God’s protection.
2) They forgot all the plagues God had brought upon Egypt.
3) We must not trust our irrational thoughts during trials. They will often lead us astray. Remember, great and mighty is the LORD our God.
2. Moses stood out as a man of faith. (Ex 14:13-14).
a. He had words from God.
1) Evidently, he had communed with God about their problem.
2) God had assured him that all would be well.
b. Moses believed God.
1) He believed in his own heart, despite the circumstances.
2) He was truly a man of faith (Read Hebrews 11:24-27).
3) He then urged the people to believe God.
c. During trials we must draw near God and pray.
1) Fear and panic are opposite to faith.
2) When we face trials, the right thing for us to do is to pray, trust God, and believe that he will do what is best.
3) Like Moses, when we truly have faith in God, we can encourage others and challenge them to have faith.
3. God’s actions helped build their faith (Ex 14:21-31).
a. Note what God did next.
1) He caused the sea to go back by a strong wind.
2) He divided the waters.
3) He made the sea dry before them.
b. Watching God do this must have increased their faith.
1) They then had faith enough to walk between the walls of water to the far other side.
2) That must have been a terrifying journey, but they had faith enough to do it.
3) God obviously saw enough faith in their actions to record it in the Faith Chapter of the Bible.
c. God honours even small faith
1) (Matthew 17:20) “… If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
2) We must recall God’s omnipotent abilities to increase our faith when we face “Red Sea” trials in our lives.
a) Recall such events described in the Bible (e.g., flood, plagues, Hezekiah’s prayer… 185,000 died, Cyrus’ decree, earthquake in Philippi, etc.)
b) Recall such events in your own life when God met your needs in amazing ways (e.g., protection, provision, direction, etc.).
Conclusion: “Red Sea” trials are part of life. Some of you are going through such a trial right now. If you are not, you will. When that happens, we must draw near to God. Seek His direction. Believe His ability. Trust Him to do what is best.
If we struggle to have faith that God will work out His best for us, it is not God’s fault, it is our fault. Remember what Paul told us about God in (Ephesians 3:20) “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
Our God is able to lead us to the other side of our “Red Sea” trials, but we must have faith in Him.
