“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘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.’” (Exodus 14:10-12 ESV)
“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, ‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.’” (Exodus 15:1-3 ESV)
Israel here is in a hopeless predicament. The Red Sea is before them, the mountains are to the right and to the left of them, and Pharaoh is coming down upon them from the rear with his army. Believe it or not, God put them there. The children of Israel, though, could not see it. They were frightened and angry at the same time, and these two factors combined together made them start complaining and bickering and fussing. They were mad at Moses. They were mad at God.
You know the story, though. God told Moses to stretch out his rod and the sea parted, and they walked over on dry ground. Once on the other side, the waters came crashing back down, killing Pharaoh's great army. “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 14:30-31 ESV).
Right after that, we go into chapter 15 of the Book of Exodus. I want you to pay particular to the very first word of chapter 15; Then. “Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song.” The last line of the song went, “The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name.” Now, that's a good song, a great song, even. But it was sung on the wrong side. It was sung on the wrong side of the Red Sea.
There are two sides to all of our trials, tribulations and temptations–the testing side and the breakthrough, or victory side. The testing side is the side that is dark, dangerous, and looks hopeless humanly. But that is the side God wants us to learn to sing on. Anybody can sing after the victory comes. Anybody can sing and dance and beat the tambourines after the enemy is dead. Who couldn't sing then? You've done it, I've done it. But, you know what else we've all done? We've all moaned and groaned and cried on the right side. And then on the wrong side, we have sung our little songs of victory.
Israel failed the test. Only Moses had a right to sing that song on that side. Oh yes, they were singing the right song, but they were singing it on the wrong side. They had no testimony of faith. This was the song that God yearned to have them sing in the blackness of the testing. This is the song that God yearns for us to learn to sing in the midst of our trials today. We need to learn to sing the song of deliverance on the right side, or the testing side, of our troubles. In this hour, there is a need for Christians who can sing this song while in the midst of the trouble, in the midst of the valley, while their back is against the wall. Why? To show this world our faith in our God.
You see, according to the Lord, the time to sing is when it looks like there is no way out. The purpose of God bringing us into a crisis, or allowing tribulations in our lives, is to test us; to give us a foundation of trust. It would have been easy for God to have spared Israel from this crisis. He could have done it with no problem. He could have parted the Red Sea way before Pharaoh's army even got close to Israel. But how are they going to trust Him for Jericho? How are they going to trust Him for the giants? How are they going to trust Him for all the walled cities? How? It's not going to happen unless God allows their backs to be against the wall and gives them a chance to build a foundation upon.
Every crisis that you and I are in right now, or at any other time, is an opportunity to learn to trust God, and to build a foundation for everything that is about to come the rest of your life. We must learn to sing the right song on the right side. It is imperative that we learn to sing the song of victory while we're still on the testing side. Only then will our faith grow like God wants it. I'll be honest with you, it isn't always easy to sing the song on the testing side. It's not easy at all. But the thing that we must realize is God knows that He has the answer already for you. God has a million ways out for you when you don't see any way.
The children of Israel, though, couldn't see it that way. They were trapped. The sea was before them, the mountains on the sides of them, and Pharaoh was closing in on them from behind. Where could they go? Nowhere. They were trapped. There may be those reading this right now that you feel the same way. You're trapped. You're hemmed in on all sides, and satan is coming at you 90 miles an hour. Where can you go? Just like Israel. Nowhere. Nowhere, that is, but to the Lord!
There's an old song we used to sing whenever I was growing up that goes like this, “Where could I go? Oh, where could I go seeking a refuge for my soul? Needing a friend to save me in the end, where could I go but to the Lord?” You may be hemmed in, just like the children of Israel were. And just like them, maybe you've not learned to sing the right song on the right side yet. You're on the side of testing and trials, and you're questioning God about why you are there. Quit worrying. Quit questioning. Victory is on its way. But even before it gets here, start singing the right song unto the Lord.