Psalm 114:2-3 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
Who is Your God?
My family and I were headed east on I40 near Needles, CA when we had a blowout. We were pulling our RV, and it was a bad deal. We were out in the desert, a long way from a good place to service our RV. It was kind of a helpless, hopeless feeling. How intimidating do you think I felt at that moment? I did not feel very powerful or intimidating. How would you feel if you were with your young children and the family pet walking through the desert? Would you feel powerful and strong? You probably would not! Yet, Psalm 114, “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.” Israel was crossing a hostile and unfriendly desert.
But here is an amazing thing. The Bible says that when the “sea saw it, it fled.” The Red Sea parted itself and became dry ground. What or who caused the Red Sea to part its waters? Verse 6 says that the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills skipped like lambs. So, what or who caused creation itself to tremble in fear? It wasn’t Judah or the children of Jacob! A sea stronger than Egypt’s army submitted to Judah because God led them!
“Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel was his dominion.” It is not that Israel had dominion; it is that Israel was God’s dominion. Egypt was not defeated by Israel, nor was the Red Sea parted by Israel. God was in control. You are only as able as the God you serve. If your god is a “little g” god, then that is how much power you have. If your God is God Jehovah, there is no stopping the God Who guides His people.
How able is your god? If money, friends, or the ability to manipulate people is your god, then the truth is that you’ve got power, but it is short-lived and tenuous at best. If your God is God Jehovah, then this God Who made the earth can part the seas and make the mountains tremble.
Whom does your world see? Do they see your God? When your family goes out to eat, what do others see in you? When you are at the grocery store, what kind of vibe are others getting from you? Are they perceiving you or the all-enabling, all-empowering, wisdom-giving God in you?
There is reason to serve God, and there is reason to be modest and humble when we do. How foolish it would have been for Moses to think, “Wow, look what Egypt does when we come against them. Look what the Red Sea does when we come against it.” It wasn’t Moses, Israel, or Judah, or Jacob’s children, it was God. You will have what God has when you follow God in your life.