Cul-de-Sacs

This week’s life rule is 1: Realize that God Means for you to be where you are. I’ll be honest: I was a bit offended the first time I read this years ago. After all, when I mess up and end up someplace because of my mistakes, God didn’t put me there; I did. I love the way Morgan puts it in his book:

“When you are in a difficult place, realize that the Lord either placed you there or allowed you to be there, for reasons perhaps known for now only to Himself. The same God who led you in will lead you out.” –The Red Sea Rules, by Robert J. Morgan (Rule 1)

The moment Israel faced the Red Sea in front of them and Egypt’s army behind them, they doubted why God had placed them in this strange situation. They were worried that this would be their end.

God did place them there. He told Israel to camp in that impossible spot: Exodus 14:1-2

“Then the Lord gave these instructions to Moses: “Order the Israelites to turn back and camp by Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. Camp there along the shore, across from Baal-zephon.” –Exodus 14:1-2 NLT

We know the end of the story: God rescues them, and everything turns out ok. At that moment, however, all they saw was they were trapped. I can only imagine many people praying a lot of worried prayers that night as they camped and tried to sleep.