Prayer Can Part the Waters   

Last week my wife, my mother-in-law, and I went on a beach trip. It didn’t turn out as we had expected. We had to leave after only a couple of days due to my wife having a health crisis. She insisted on coming back to our local hospital, so we hurriedly made the drive, planning to go directly to the emergency room. The trip progressed rapidly until we were on the interstate approaching the Atlanta airport. There traffic came to a standstill. I heard on the radio that there was a wreck five miles ahead of us that had all the lanes closed. We were in the far-left lane with nowhere to go. We realized that we might be stuck there for hours.

 At that point I prayed. For some reason my mind went to the time when God parted the waters as the Israelites were escaping from slavery in Egypt. So I asked the Lord specifically to part the waters again, thinking about the removal of that wreck that might allow us to start moving again. However just a moment later, I noticed a gap in the lane next to me. And beyond it, I could see an even bigger space between vehicles in the subsequent lane. I took that as my cue and drove through two lanes of stopped traffic. I was then able to get in the next lane in which cars were moving because it led to an exit onto another expressway. I was able to follow it, passing the long line of cars that were still waiting for the road ahead to clear. We got on that other interstate and made it to the hospital in a very reasonable time.

 God answered my prayer, just not in the way I had anticipated. Instead of clearing the path five miles ahead of me, He created an opening right there where I was at, which led to a way out of our predicament. I am not sure, but sometimes it seems to me that creating such an unusual gap in the infamous Atlanta traffic at just the right moment and location may be about as big a miracle as parting the waters of the Red Sea. I could certainly see God’s hand at work.

What waters do you need parted today? God is still working and He still responds to the prayers of those who put their trust in Him. As in my case, He may not do exactly what you want or do it in the way you expect. He may do it in an even better way. However, we have to be looking and ready to respond when He does open the door. If I had not prayed that specific prayer and been looking for the answer in some form of a “parting of waters”, I probably would not have recognized the opportunity that was there nor have taken the initiative to take the risk. So let’s not pray for God to act but miss out on it due to our lack of vigilance or our timidity to follow His leading. I imagine that pathway through two walls of water was a rather intimidating sight for the Israelites. Nevertheless, they believed God and were willing to move forward, trusting that God would not allow the sea to come back together to swallow them up. Pray for God to part the waters in your situation, and then be ready to go.

At the time of this writing, my wife is still in ICU. Please keep her in your prayers. Prayer matters and is effective. As the Lord reaffirmed to me through this latest experience, when we pray He can still part the waters.