When God Seems Cruel

In Psalm 66, the singer is remembering the miraculous event at the Red Sea, when Yahweh turned the water into dry land, allowing His people, the Israelites, to cross over and escape the pursuing army of Egypt.

Have you ever met anyone who has never been around large bodies of water? Not only do they not know how to swim, but the thought of even wading out into water over their knees really makes them nervous. Big water can be frightening to folks who have never been exposed to it from the time they were young.

I imagine that many of the people of Israel were horrified during their crossing of the Red Sea. Their culture used water for drink, they caught fish from water, and used boats for transport. But, given their captivity in Egypt and subsequent years of wandering in the desert, I think that there were probably not many swimmers in this group of Israelites.

It took some time, getting all those people across with their animals and belongings, with that wall of water looming over them. They were walking by faith, not by sight.

But, this was Yahweh’s doing. Sometimes He seems cruel. Making us walk by faith through difficult, sometime even horrific trials, are still to be counted as part of His awesome deeds (66:5 – “…He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man”). At times, He lays “a crushing burden on our backs” (66:11). Sometimes, we may “feel” that Yahweh is not even there at all.

The Psalmist tells us to shout for joy to Yahweh and sing the glory of His name (66:1-2). Even when His workings may, for a season, seem cruel to us, remember that He is working out His eternal purpose. We are walking through fire and water, but He is bringing us out to a place of abundance (66:12).