Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord (Isaiah 63:13b, 14a NIV).
This passage is a clear reference to the deliverance that God gave the Israelites through the hand of Moses from the Egyptian army when they tried to chase them through the dry path in the Red Sea. It holds great applications for our Christian walk today.
There are many things that can cause a man to stumble in his walk. It could be the unevenness of the ground, the unfamiliarity of the path being taken or poor vision in fading light that makes a man stumble. Yet when God leads the paths become level.
The pursuing enemy may be right at your heels. Yet the path that God opens through the sea of trouble shall be a highway for you where you will not stumble. Such kinds of journeys to safety are God’s special love-tokens during crises.
Once you are out of the enemy’s reach, God reaches out to you once more. If “a horse in open country” symbolic of fast movement was the hallmark of the first stage, abiding rest becomes the main feature of the second stage. “Cattle that go down to the plain” exactly communicate to us the picture of rest, satisfaction and contentment.
A Christian should look forward to reach this kind of resting in God. But it should be noted that this rest is not something that we can work out. It is something given to us by the Spirit of the Lord.
Often we find Christians fretting and fuming about little nagging troubles. Let them think much upon God’s gracious dealing with His children during times of trouble. He makes them move fast without stumbling and gives rest!
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