Exodus 14:16-20

Now Moses is given explicit instructions. God tells Moses what he is to do, and what God Himself will do, and why He is doing this. As God had said earlier, it was done in order that God would gain glory for Himself, so that the Israelites would realise who He was and that He was the most significant factor in their life.

Look at the instruction to Moses. "stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water". Moses had never done this before, nor would he do this again. The instruction is given as though Moses has the power to do this, and when it happened it would look as if he had the power to do this. In fact it was God's power that would be at work (see verse 21). We are meant to live in fellowship with God, living according to His power and purpose, not our own power and purpose. When we do this it will sometimes look as if we have the power.

This is why character is so important. It takes character to obey God's instructions in the first place, no one will think it is going to work! It will then take character when it does work, for suddenly everyone will treat you as some sort of superman.

The angel of the Lord also moved so that the Egyptian army did not come into direct contact with Israelites. As well as the things that God tells us about, there are things that He does that He will not tell us about.