AT THE RED SEA WITH MOSES

I was at the Red Sea, admiring the beautiful view of nature:

The cool breeze blowing, beautiful flowers dancing, the waves moving forward and backwards, roaring; the sand, soft and cool; mountains high, standing still, staring at me.

I had to bring out my phone to capture this beautiful view.

Just about that moment, there was a loud voice calling from afar, “Moses! Moses!” It was a man running towards the crowd camped by the Red Sea, near Pi Hahiroth and Baal Zephon. “The Egyptian Army is coming against us with weapons!” He shouted. 

Egyptian army?

I wondered what that meant and who they were. The crowd of wives, husbands, and children stood up immediately, holding themselves tightly in fear.

Then I saw a very tall, muscular man with long hair who seemed to be their leader, trying to calm the people.

Oh! Could that be Uncle Moses? Wow! It’s Uncle Moses! Having confirmed it was him, I took my phone, ignorant of what was happening or was about to happen.

I started running towards Uncle Moses in excitement to take a selfie with him and post it on social media with the caption, ‘See me chilling with Moses.’ Uncle Moses, however, seemed busy trying to calm his people. I couldn’t take a selfie with him.

“Don’t be afraid! Stand your ground, and you will see what the Lord will do to save you today; you will never see the Egyptians again. The Lord will fight for you, and all you have to do is keep still,” Uncle Moses said to the people.

I was confused: Keep still? Don’t be afraid. Of what? I never knew what was happening, not until I heard some scary, loud baritone voices from afar saying: “See them! Let’s get them! They must not escape!”

They were the Egyptian Army, I assumed. And they were all dressed in metallic Armour, with breastplates, shields, and shining silver swords, heading towards us on horses and chariots.

Fear gripped me; I perceived danger. Now I knew what was happening. There was Uncle Moses, calming us down and assuring us that we would escape.

I began to wonder what Uncle Moses would do in order for us to escape; we were trapped, and there was nowhere to run.

I looked around to see if there were any boats or ships that could ferry us across the Red Sea, so we would be safe, but there were none; all I could see was Uncle Moses, with his eyes closed, stretching his stick over the sea. what?! I became even more confused! What could Uncle Moses be up to?

As I was lost in thoughts thinking of the possible ways out while still observing Uncle Moses, my eyeballs almost popped out, wide in awe: the sea had been split in two, and in between was dry land paving the way for us to cross.

How was this possible?

I wondered as everyone began to run in between the seas, following Uncle Moses. But I had to join them, running in between the seas; and couldn’t possibly risk my life at the hands of the armed Egyptians.

Oh, I was scared while running in between the sea with them! because I had never seen nor experienced anything like this before in my life.

And at the same time, I was excited at experiencing such; I wanted to just take my phone again to capture the moment and then afterwards post on social media with the caption “me and my people inside the Red Sea,” but there was no time for that; our lives were at stake here.

We were eventually able to cross to the other side of the Red Sea, only to see the Egyptian Army following us closely behind with their horses and chariots in between.

Hmm, I began to wonder what was going to happen next. Uncle Moses stretched his stick again over the sea, and immediately, the sea went back to the way it was initially, swallowing the Egyptian Army in the middle of the sea, all shouting “Help! Help!”

As the people with Moses began to give all glory to God for victory and embrace each other, I was rolling on the ground deliriously, laughing at the foolish Egyptian Army who had tried following us to cross the Red Sea.

I wanted to capture that moment again, snapping the foolish Egyptian Army shouting for help, and then posting it on social media so my followers there would also laugh with me. But the moment I picked up my phone, ready to snap, I felt a very sharp pain in my back and jumped from my bed, shouting “Uncle Moses!”

Oh!

It was my mother who flogged me with her very long, tiny ‘peppery’ cane. “Are you okay?” Mother asked, “Why are you laughing out loud while sleeping and rolling on your bed? I and your sisters have been standing here since watching you,” my mother said, as my two naughty little sisters were rolling on the ground laughing at me and mocking me. I was struck speechless at that moment when I discovered that it was only a dream.

LESSONS:

As funny as this story might be, there are morals we could pick from it.

On a lighter note, this story reflects the tendencies of younger people in this social media age who long to snap and post anything and everything on social media, even when it is uncalled for, at a very critical moment, purely out of ignorance.

It also takes us to the scriptural verse Hebrew 11:29, reminding us that it was faith that made the Israelites able to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land.

When the Egyptians tried to do it, the water swallowed them up.

One key moral that can be pointed out here is that trying to do what others did without knowing what they did or how they did it will get you sunk like the ‘Pharaoh.’ If you want to copy or be like someone you admire, ask questions, and do not just jump abruptly into doing things.

And if you can’t be like them, live within your means, grow steadily in God’s grace, and, more importantly, be content.