You have to grant a certain amount of admiration for the Egyptians.  They must have been a tremendously confident bunch to weather all the plagues sent by the Lord and then pursue Israel this long way into the desert.  They were not easily beaten.

They were outfitted well with horses and chariots.  They were not going to go down to humiliation and defeat without a fight.  And no doubt they believed they had the tools.  You have to give them a degree of admiration.

An honest appraisal leads to far less praise of Israel.  Don't you imagine Israel many times over the generations gladly would have traded places with the Egyptians, assumed their power, their advantage, and their wealth?  It would have been wishful thinking, but nevertheless, basic human nature is like that.

On the afternoon mentioned in this text the Israelites were asking Moses if there weren't enough graves in Egypt that they had to be brought out in the desert to die.  They still would have traded places with Egypt.  Yet, God's deliverance is not based upon what we think we need or patterned on what we want.

God does not ask your permission to rescue you or set prerequisites on His grace.

I think whatever envy, resentment, or fear Israel ever had over their oppressors was as quickly overwhelmed by the floodwaters of the Red Sea as were the Egyptians.  In one very real sense the Israelites, the former cynics, the fearful naysayer and Hebrew worrywart were drowned in the Red Sea as well.

It was a baptism.  The free nation which emerged from the sea was not the same fearful one which had entered it.

What mattered was that the Lord was on their side. 

Spears turned to toothpicks, chariots flopped on their useless axles, and the proud management of men turned to confusion when God fought for Israel. 

And isn't it interesting that it is Egypt which first seems to fully recognize, "The Lord is fighting for them."  Even the oppressors appear swifter than Israel in perceiving the benefit of the Lord's favor.

Faith, it seems, for Israel, was an aftermath.  For so many of this people, it was only after God had accomplished this great deliverance for them that they began to grasp in silent awe and fear just what it meant to have the Lord fight for them against their enemies. 

He fights and he wins for us.

But isn't it often that way with us?  God leads us, protects us, supplies all we need, and delivers us before we ever really comprehend what great things God is doing.  How easy to fall into the ancient trap of relying on materials or in the strength of a horse or the legs of a man (Ps. 147:10-11).  How common an error to whimper like Israel when all along God is on the side of sinners.

Israel came to realize this.  The whole of Psalm 124 is acknowledgement that were it not for the Lord taking our side, we would all be lost.  Read it.

We Christians use this same language when speaking of the vicarious atonement.  Christ took our side.  He took our woe, our sin, our shame and death.  He took our punishment.  He took our side.  We don't mean by this He was our ally, merely helping us or collaborating in the fight.  Rather, he took the field entirely on his own.  Like David against Goliath; like Elijah against the prophets of Baal; it was the Lord alone who fights through to victory.

Take stock of the fact that you have long since been led through the waters of the Red Sea (in which St. Paul sees the clear picture of our baptism in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5.

Although it is accurate to say whatever we plan or do with Christ, He will bless.  But I think we may express that even more wonderfully.  Not only will he bless what we do in his name, He himself will do it!  The Lord is fighting for us.  He does not merely apply his benediction.  He is The benediction.  The Lord is on our side.  So let's get on with ministry which extends beyond the material considerations, beyond the misgivings we have in our own abilities, and entrust it to the Lord because we've already seen how he fights for us.