“If only God would clearly show me His will.”
“I know what you mean! Like, tell me where to go and when.”
“Yes! Direct my path.”
“If I had clear direction, so I wasn’t guessing as to exactly what He wanted, that would make following Him easier.”
“You know, like a pillar of cloud by day or fire by night?”
“Exactly!”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Imagine Him going that for 2 million people all at once! How good would THAT be?
There is an answer to that question, you know. THIS is “how good” it would be: God gave super-clear directions to an entire nation for an entire generation:
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. Exodus 13:21-22
It was an abysmal failure! In spite of daily manna and a constant, clear manifest presence, when it came right down to it, they did not follow.
It turns out, we don’t really obey a clear directive as a people. The only thing worse was when He came in the flesh as Emmanuel—God with us—and we actually killed Him!
Maybe at some point, faith must be unseen. That’s why they call it faith. Otherwise, it would be called sight.
So, here’s the FIRST chapter in that story of direct guidance. Ready? No, you’re not. Neither were they.
Pharaoh lets the people go.
The people plunder the Egyptians and leave defiantly, thumbs on noses, razzing their former captors. And they exit, stage left.
But what happens when you exit without a military victory? Your former captives might just change their minds and then come and get you, reclaim all their bounty, and either kill you or return you to slavery. An exit stage left was not leaving the building, but only being off stage for a moment. It’s not a final exit, is it?
God leads them out, but they are not ready to fight to reclaim their land. They are equipped for battle, but not ready to fight.
So God leads them in a direction they didn’t expect: toward the Red Sea. There, they set up camp at God’s direction.
Then God hardens Pharaoh’s heart (again), according to plan. He sees that they are not actually going anywhere far. Militarily, Israel is trapped on the shore of the Red Sea. So he pursues them, with his entire army! Easy pickings.
The people of Israel see 600 chariots and a massive army coming toward them, and this ragtag army of theirs is going to be no match for them. They complain to Moses (of course), "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
Moses confidently tells them, “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." But he doesn’t yet know what the plan will be.
The LORD has Moses tell the people of Israel to go forward. Right to the edge of the water. (Note: not a good military position to be in!)
Then that pillar of cloud/fire of God, which had been leading Israel to end up in this vulnerable place moves to settle behind them, between Israel and the Egyptian army. It was darkness (cloud) on the Egyptian side, and light (fire) on the Israelite side, so that all night the army could not find two million people trapped at the edge of the sea!
Then, at the Lord’s command, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
In the morning, the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Then, at the exact right moment, the cloud lifted, and the Egyptian army was able to see Israel as they made their escape in the midst of the sea. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. The LORD threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. (Exodus 14:1-31)
YOUR ENCOUNTER
It seems like it would be great to know what God’s will is, doesn’t it? But some days He has you move when you aren’t ready to move. “We just got everything taken out of boxes!” And then some days He stops in an inconvenient place. “Why right here at this rocky spot? Why not over there, where there is grass and shade?” But we have to trust that in it all, God is doing something that seems disastrous so that something greater can come next. And by “greater,” I don’t necessarily mean, “more convenient for you.” But I mean, something that advances His kingdom, His cause, and His will.
Have you felt the holy prompting to move, or stay, and you have resisted it because you didn’t know what the next step would be after that? He has already given you a roadmap in the Bible. So if in doubt, just do what He already told you, and do as you please. But if you have asked for His hand to be clear, and He has sent you or kept you or directed you, then trust that He has the overall orchestration worked out.