It’s been a tumultuous 24 hours and this morning my husband has resigned from his job – the second job he has resigned from in as many weeks.

When I woke up this morning, I found myself full heart full of anxiety.  I started reading the promises of God because I know that always calms me down and gives me a sense of God’s peace.

After reading several Bible promises, and still feeling my heart in knots of anxiety, I came to this Bible verse in Exodus 14:13, one of my all-time favourite Bible Promises.

By the time I finished reading this Bible text, I was at peace once again.

The story is about when God miraculously parts the Red Sea and the Israelites are able to walk through on dry land.  Then when the enemy (the Egyptians) follow, God brings the water back down over them and destroys them.

As I considered this wonderful story, of God’s miraculous provision, God showed me a principle that I’d like to share here – the five P’s of solving life’s problems with God.

1. Problem

We have a problem and we need God’s help.

2. Prayer

We bring our need to God in prayer.  We exercise our faith and praise and thank God in advance, confident that He will meet our needs.

3. Promise

We read the promises of God from His Word and stand on those promises while we wait for God to help us.

4. Provision

God provides the help we need. 

5. Praise

We praise God again for providing for our needs.

And I was reminded in my Ladies Bible group this morning, we need to start praising God as soon as we have a problem, rather than waiting until after He has delivered us.

We praise God before He answers our prayers.  We believe that, by faith, God has already answered us.  He has already provided for our needs.  He will reveal it to us in His perfect timing.

Let’s look at the story of the Red Sea a little closer, in light of the 5 P’s principle.

1. Problem – they are trapped at the Red Sea

The Israelites were trapped with the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians behind them.  They could see no way out of their problem.

Exodus 14 New International Version (NIV)

Verse 1-3 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’

It’s interesting to note that God guides the Israelites directly into the challenging situation!!! 

He tells them to go towards the Red Sea. 

We need to remember that sometimes, when we follow God’s leading, it may not always turn out the way we expect, but God is still firmly in control.

We might start to question ourselves and question God “but I thought You were leading me Lord”.

God was leading them because He knew He was going to miraculously deliver them.

Verse 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

Notice that the first promise God gives them is before they even have a problem.

God tells Moses that He is about to do something amazing.  He tells him in advance that the Egyptians will follow them and that God will miraculously deliver them so that God is glorified.

Verse 5 – 12 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.  The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. 

2. Prayer – bring your need before God

I wouldn’t exactly call this a prayer, but it does say “they were terrified and cried out to the Lord”. 

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.  They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

The Israelites were understandably terrified by the situation they are facing.  Sometimes the situations we face are so scary, that the only prayer we can offer is HELP ME GOD !!! 

When it looks like there is no way out of a problem, we need to trust God and praise Him in advance that He will make a way where there appears to be no way.

3. Promise – God promises to deliver them

Verse 13 – 14 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

This is God’s second promise to them.  He tells them not to be afraid.  They don’t even have to do anything.  They just need to stand back and watch God work.  He fights ‘for them’.

In whatever situation we are facing, the best thing we can do is to look up God’s promises in His Word, read them and write them out so we can re-read them as we go about our day.

As we claim these promises as our very own, they help to keep our faith strong and our fear and anxiety under control while we wait for God’s deliverance.

4. Provision – God solves the problem

Verse 15 – 18 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” 

Verse 19 – 20 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 

Verse 21 – 22 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 

Verse 23 – 25 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 

Verse 26 – 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”  Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 

Verse 29 – 30 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.  That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

5. Praise

The Israelites rejoice in the miracle God has provided.

Verse 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Then the whole of Exodus 15 is about the songs of praise and thanks that the Israelites sing to God for his deliverance.

Next time you face a problem, try using the 5 P’s: 1) Problem 2) Prayer 3) Promise 4) Provision
5) Praise.  Watch God work on your behalf!