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A Rock and a Hard Place

by Jerry Ousley  
4/19/2008 / Christian Living

Have you ever been there? Between a rock and a hard place I mean. Being in this position is a very uncomfortable place. On one side is a big rock it's not going anywhere. I don't know exactly what the hard place is but the picture I see when I think about this old adage is a man sandwiched between a big old rock and a very hard surface; not a good place to be at all.

I've been there before. This old saying describes a situation in which you cannot possibly win. I was minding my own business one morning on my way to work. It was still dark out and there were several spots along the highway that were patchy with fog. As I came up on a certain spot that went through a State Forestry I suddenly saw some figures moving across the road. It took a couple of seconds for it to hit my brain that they were deer. Of course I immediately hit my brakes but as I got closer I could see several large deer running. One of them looked at the approaching vehicle and I guess it wondered, "What's that?" and so just stopped in the middle of the road to get a better look. I could tell that there was no way I was going to get stopped. I couldn't swerve off the highway to the right because the other deer were still there. I couldn't swerve to the left because then I would have been in the wrong lane and I could see headlights coming in the distance. That was the rock and the hard place. Even though I had slowed down I had no choice but to plow headlong into that deer. Unfortunately I hit the critter hard enough that it killed it (sorry about that) and it demolished the front end of the little car I was driving. I didn't win and the poor deer didn't either, but that was the best of three choices.

In Exodus 14 the people of Israel found themselves in a similar but much more serious situation. Even though there was a closer way higher up in the Sinai Peninsula, God had instructed Moses to take the people toward the Red Sea. They came upon the shore line and I can imagine a few of them scratching their heads wondering, "Now how are we going to get across that?" Not long after, Pharaoh had changed his mind about letting them go and so sent his army after them.

So here they were; the seemingly impassable Red Sea on one side and the great army of Egypt on the other. Death seemed imminent. They began to complain and accuse Moses of putting them in this "rock and hard place" spot. But God spoke to Moses. Most of you know the story from here because God parted the sea and the Israeli people walked across on dry ground. However when the Egyptian army went between the walls of water after them they soon found themselves in their own "rock and hard spot" situation.

By the way, I read one time that some scoffer claimed to have proven that where the Israeli people crossed the Red Sea the water was only ankle deep. Upon hearing this report a little lady jumped up whooping and hollering. When questioned about her strange behavior she stated, "That means that God did a greater miracle because He drowned Pharaoh's army in ankle deep water!"

God doesn't make mistakes. Sometimes we may wonder, just like the Israelites, "Why in the world did God bring us here?" Let me assure you that He has good reason. After that day the Israeli people had a story to tell for centuries to come. It's the same with us. When we see the reason why God has put us in a "rock and hard place" spot then we too will have a witness of the delivering power of God through Jesus Christ.

The next time you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place remember the children of Israel at the Red Sea. If you will hold your ground and wait for the deliverance of the Lord then you may just put the devil himself in between a rock and a hard place!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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