God Didn’t Need Moses

“As for you, lift up your staff and reach out with your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. And as for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots, and through his horsemen.” (Exodus 14:16-18, NASB)

“Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17, ESV)
 

Everyone knows and loves the story of Moses and Israel’s exodus from Egypt. There are movies about it, songs, coloring pages, teaching curriculums, you name it. The story is full of miracles and unbelievable moments from plagues to the parting of the Red Sea. When you’re talking about the awesome power of God, there is no story like this one.

And the grand finale of it all is just as Israel is making their last push out of Egypt. They go out and camp just along the shores of the Red Sea, waiting for God to show them the next steps of their journey. Meanwhile, Pharaoh has changed his mind and gathered his army to go and re-capture the Israelites. You would think, after losing so much in ten plagues– including his firstborn son– Pharaoh wouldn’t want to go toe to toe with God again.

As the people begin to lose hope and it seems like all is lost, God speaks to Moses. He reveals that He has hardened Pharaoh's heart to cause him to pursue Israel one last time. He commands Moses to lift up his staff over the sea and God will divide it for His people to walk through to the other side.

The interesting thing is this: God never needed Moses to lift his staff to part the Red Sea. God didn’t need Moses to lift a finger to display His power.

What we so often get wrong is the belief that God needed Moses to partner with Him to complete the miracle and part the sea. There are many that would preach that message on a Sunday morning; that God needed Moses’ action to complete His plan. 

The fact of the matter is that God could have parted the sea all on His own. He is sovereign to do it. He didn’t have to tell Moses what He was doing either. He could have just split the sea and no one would have questioned it because it’s unlike anything that a mere man could have done or explained.

So why, then, did God ask Moses to be involved at all? 

I think the exchange has more to do with Moses needing God’s approval and backing in the eyes of Israel to be seen as their chosen leader. Essentially, God included Moses so that Israel would attribute Him as the man God chose to not only lead them out of Egypt, but to go beyond that and get them to the Promised Land.

Israel is notorious for forgetting God’s sovereignty and going in their own direction once things got scary. And in that moment, there was nothing scarier than Egypt coming down with all their military might to do whatever it is they wanted to do. All of a sudden the ten plagues, the miracles, and the power God displayed leading up to this moment was forgotten and panic set in. When in fact, God orchestrated the whole thing to be this way. He said it Himself: He hardened the hearts of the Egyptians to go after the Israelites. He was laying out a plan so that Egypt would know once and for all that God was stronger, mightier, and sovereign over all.

Because the simple fact is that God doesn’t need us to partner with Him in order to do anything. He doesn’t need us to heal, save, or move. He doesn’t need our flimsy, forgetful faith to push His power over the top. There is no spell book or ingredient list that God needs to accomplish anything. He can do it all in His own ability, without a word or permission.

But we do need Him. We need His help at all times. He is the one that saves us, heals us, uses us, and protects us. We can’t do any of this on our own behalf. Instead, we need Him to do that for us. 

God didn’t need Moses or His staff to part the sea, but Moses needed God to give him and the Israelites a way out.

And God did all of this: hardening Pharaoh’s heart so he would gather the Egyptian military to come after Israel, brought Israel to the wilderness with the Red Sea at their backs, asked Moses to raise his staff so as to assign him as a physical touchstone to God’s miracle, and parted the sea as an escape route out of Egypt. Through this, Israel could see God’s stamp of approval on Moses to lead them on His behalf and be the go-between between Him and the people. And ultimately, God would receive the glory for not only liberating Israel from Egypt, but completely annihilating those that doubted His sovereignty and establishing His unquestionable Lordship to the Egyptian people.

The beauty of this for us is that no, God does not need us to partner with Him in order to display His power. He is God, and has more ability than we can ever fathom. He doesn’t need us to carry out any of the master plan He has set in place long before we came on the scene.

But just because He doesn’t need us doesn’t mean He doesn’t want us. God could have parted the sea without Moses’ involvement, but God still chose to include Him. God could have just let Israel walk out of Egypt with no opposition, but His desire was for us to see Him for who He is and for us to draw near to Him. 

Our end goal to knowing God shouldn’t be built on the power we believe He will give to us or thinking we will be able to command His power because we believe. Instead, our love for Him should simply be based on the fact that He is faithful, mighty to save, nothing is too hard for Him, and He chooses to include us in His plans and share His glory with us anyway.