Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.’ 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing towards it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen – the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

‘Psalm 77:16-20 indicates that a severe rainstorm accompanied the high winds, and after Israel had crossed, the rain turned Israel’s dry pathway into a muddy road. When the Egyptian soldiers tried to follow, the mud disabled their chariots and impeded their progress, and when the waters returned, all the Egyptian soldiers were drowned. It was indeed a night to be remembered.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: Old Testament commentary, p.168.

In years to come, pious Jews would look back on the Exodus as the supreme demonstration, in their history, of God’s rescuing power. It is referred to many times in the psalms and in the prophetic books.

We should never lose sight of the fact that God is in control of history. He is able to deal decisively with tyrants (murderers, thugs, political bullies). He is the same God forever and ever.

We do not know what His purpose is in this historical moment, but let us not doubt for one minute that He is running the universe and ‘history is His story.’

PRAYER: Lord, you make wars “cease to the ends of the earth.” You break “the bow” and shatter “the spear”; you burn “the shields with fire” (Ps.46:9). We pray you will have mercy on the peoples of Russia and the Ukraine, and bring about a swift and lasting peace. Lord have mercy on your world; Christ have mercy on us all.