Look forward in faith

God always knows just where to position Himself in our lives...
for our protection.

Moses had begun to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.
But only days later, Pharaoh had come to his senses...
wondering why he had let them go.
And he and 600 chariots pursued.

And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes,
and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.
So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
Exodus 14:10

But God had never left them.
He was before them...
leading and guiding as a pillar of cloud by day,
and a pillar of fire by night.

And as God led them forward, toward the Red sea
He intended for the Egyptian army to follow.

But God repositioned Himself...
as a barrier of protection between His children
and what pursued them.

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel,
moved and went behind them;
and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.
So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel.
Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, 
and it gave light by night to the other, 
so that the one did not come near the other all that night.
Exodus 14:19-20 NKJV

And the Israelites crossed the parted waters of the Red sea at night.
As the Egyptians followed.
And because the Angel of the Lord was between them,
He gave light behind the Israelites,
but a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians.

That is pretty amazing.
This same pillar...
this same form of the Angel of God that moved between them
was light to one and darkness to another.
And protected them as they crossed.

And so it is with us...
when we call upon the Lord.
When we find ourselves stuck in a situation
that causes us great fear...
when we feel as if an enemy is bearing down upon us...
we can also cry out to God
and His presence will be our barrier of protection.
And He will light the way for us,
direct our path,
part the difficult waters,
and swallow up our enemies.

But we first must release our grasp on the problem
and cry out to Him for help.
And then we must turn to face forward...
not looking back over our shoulder at the problem.
For that is where God wants to cast a cloud of darkness over our enemy...
keeping distance between us so we can move forward.

But if we keep looking back,
it means we are not moving forward,
not trusting that God is behind us,
not giving Him full charge of the problem.
And we are not seeing victory in our lives.

For the children of Israel had to look forward
to safely cross over on dry land.
And when they reached the other side,
God confused the Egyptians.
He literally took the wheels off their chariots,
as they exclaimed...
“Let us flee from the face of Israel,
for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” (14:25)

But it was too late, as the waters came crashing down upon them.
Word of God... train me, today...
to trust in the presence of God,
to know that God has my back and will protect me.

Lord God,
just as You became as a barrier of protection for the children of Israel,
I too trust You to stand between me and my problems.
When fear and darkness surround me
I will choose to look forward,
trusting that You have my back...
that You will light my way and guide me,
protecting me from what I fear.