The Riptide at Pensacola Beach

Every summer, lifeguards along the Gulf Coast at Pensacola Beach, Florida, pull dozens of swimmers from riptides — narrow channels of water rushing seaward at speeds up to eight feet per second. What kills most victims is not the current itself but their response to it. Panic sets in. Arms flail. Legs churn. Every ounce of energy pours into fighting the water, swimming hard toward shore. And the ocean swallows them whole.

The lifeguard's instruction sounds impossible to a drowning person: stop swimming. Be still. Let the current carry you. A riptide is narrow — within sixty to ninety seconds of stillness, it disperses on its own. The water that felt like an enemy releases its grip without a single stroke from the swimmer.

This is exactly where the Israelites stood at the edge of the Red Sea. Pharaoh's chariots thundered behind them. Water stretched before them. Every instinct screamed to do something — run, fight, negotiate. But Moses delivered the most counterintuitive command in Scripture: "Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

God was not asking for passivity. He was asking for trust — the kind that releases clenched fists and lets the Almighty do what only He can do. The sea opened not because Israel fought harder, but because they stood still long enough to let God fight for them.