Text: Exodus 14:26-31
Memory text:
“Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In warfare, soldiers sometimes pretend to retreat. They intentionally move into a narrow valley, making the enemy think they are weak and trapped. But hidden in the hills are reinforcements waiting to collapse on the enemy when they enter the trap. Sometimes God leads His people into places that make no sense, a death trap. But in the mind of God, it was a divine setup. What Israel called danger, God called strategy. Israel’s vulnerable position at the Red Sea was God’s ambush point for Pharaoh.
Occasionally, God allows you to enter tight, impossible places, not to kill you, but to kill what’s been trying to kill you. And the waters that looked like Israel’s prison became Pharaoh’s funeral. “…Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived.” (Exo 14:28 NLT).
Also, God leading Israel into a box was divine training. God was building unshakable trust inside them that they would need for future battles.
Israel had no military experience, no strategy, and no weapons. So, the first “battlefield” God brought them to was not a place where they would fight but a place where He would fight for them. They needed to learn to trust in God before they could fight along with God, but before they could face battles where they must fight, they had to face a battle where God alone fights. You can not fight tomorrow’s giants if you don’t trust the God who defeated yesterday’s Pharaoh (1 Sam 17:34-35).
Remembering God’s victory over Pharaoh also built confidence in the faithfulness of God to deliver in other battles. The Red Sea became their faith memory. “When the people of Israel saw …They put their faith in the LORD …” (Exo 14:31 NLT).
Having lived under the fear of Pharaoh for 430 years, God broke that fear in one night through the Red Sea encounter. He wanted them to know that their enemy is not stronger than their God. You can not conquer Canaan while still fearing Egypt.
The Red Sea was beyond deliverance; it was fear detox, faith formation, and identity overhaul.
The trap was for revelation. It built a deep inner conviction, as they reasoned, “If God could defeat Pharaoh without our help, He can defeat any enemy with our obedience.”
Friends, fear not, for that trap is not for your destruction. God will turn the trap into testimony in Jesus’ name.

Prayer points
1. Father, please turn this trap into a testimony and let the place that exposes my weakness be the same place that reveals Your strength, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, let me never forget Your wonders in delivering me from the Red Seas of the past, lest I fear when I face future giants, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. God is faithful. I won’t consider it as weakness, negligence, or bad navigation when He leads me into a box but divine training.
2. I face any giant as I remember that the God who delivered me from the Red Seas of the past is still able to do much more.