Walk! Put Your Foot in the Sea, and It Will Open

Introduction: God prepared you long before you knew it

You may feel like your life is nothing extraordinary, like your years have gone by without God really using you, or maybe you feel like your calling has already come too late. This Sunday at CCNV Marseille, the sermon "Walk!" opens up the life of Moses to remind you of one thing: God designed you with a plan before you were even born, and he is telling you today to get up and walk, even if you don't feel ready, worthy, or at your best.

The people of Israel remained slaves in Egypt for years. Then one day, God sent an eighty year old man, a stutterer, a fugitive, tending sheep in the desert, to go stand up to Pharaoh. That man was Moses. And his story speaks to us because God works with you the same way: he prepares you in secret, he calls you at the moment you feel weakest, and he asks you to put your foot in the sea so that it will open.

The plan

1. God had a plan for you before you were born

2. The desert of preparation is never wasted

3. "I will be with you": the only qualification that matters

4. Walk! Put your foot in the sea before it opens

1. God had a plan for you before you were born

Moses was in the heart of God long before he was in his mother's womb. God said to himself, "I am going to make Moses like this, like this, like this. He will free my people." This isn't an accident, it isn't a story about talent, it isn't a story about merit: it's a divine plan, drawn up before the world began. The prophet wrote it down: "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you" (Jeremiah 1:5).

That was true for Moses, and it's true for you. You too were designed by God with a specific purpose. You too are "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). When you doubt your worth, remember that the life in you carries a divine intention.

The devil pushes back right from the start. Moses was born under a death sentence: Pharaoh had decreed that every Hebrew baby boy be killed (Exodus 1:15-22). That's no coincidence. When God has a plan for a child, the enemy tries to break it from birth. But the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, feared God more than Pharaoh and refused to obey. The result: "Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own" (Exodus 1:21). If the enemy keeps coming after you, that's not a sign your life is worthless: it's often proof that God's plan for you is enormous.

When you hand over what is most precious to you, God carries the weight. Moses' mother hid her son for three months, then placed him in a basket on the Nile (Exodus 2:1-10). It's a powerful picture of faith: opening your hands to let go, trusting God with what you can no longer hold onto yourself. And God answered: Pharaoh's daughter rescued Moses, and his own mother was even paid to nurse him. Nothing is lost when you entrust it to God.

2. The desert of preparation is never wasted

Moses grew up in Pharaoh's court, trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). Then one day, wanting to defend an oppressed Hebrew, he killed an Egyptian and had to flee (Exodus 2:11-15). The calling was already there, but he tried to fulfill it on his own, in his own way, and it failed.

So Moses went to Midian, to a people who weren't his own. He got married, had children, and tended his father-in-law Jethro's flocks. Forty years. Forty years of silence. Forty years doing work that had nothing spectacular about it.

And maybe you feel like your years are slipping by and God isn't using you. Maybe your job is modest, your service goes unnoticed, and the dream you once had is now covered in dust. Understand this clearly: that hidden season is the season when God is preparing you. If Moses had stayed in Egypt, he would have ended up resembling the oppressor he was meant to confront. It was that desert, that humility, those years of nothing, that made him credible to the people he was going to set free.

"All things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). No year is wasted. What you're learning to do today in the shadows (serving, cleaning, loving, staying faithful with no one watching) is exactly the raw material God will use in your calling.

The burning bush is a very simple sign. When God calls Moses, he doesn't send an army of angels. He sets a bush on fire in the desert (Exodus 3:1-6). A bush burning in the Middle Eastern heat is nothing unusual. The miracle is that it isn't consumed. God speaks to you every day, through simple things: rain, birdsong in the morning, a verse you open to at random, a word from a brother or sister. Don't miss it because you're waiting for something spectacular. God often reveals himself in the small thing that refuses to go out.

3. "I will be with you": the only qualification that matters

Standing before the bush, Moses is afraid. He lists every reason why he isn't the right person: "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11). "I am not eloquent... but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" (Exodus 4:10).

Moses' trust in God wasn't the issue. The real problem was his trust in himself. Like you, he knew all his failures: the Egyptian he had killed, the Hebrews who had rejected him, his flight, his lost family, his life as a shepherd far from Egypt's glory. The devil takes a twisted pleasure in reminding you of your failures every day, whispering: "You never made it before, why would you make it now?"

And God's answer fits in five words: "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12). Not "you're strong enough." Not "you're eloquent enough." Not "you have the right resume." Simply: I will be with you. All the things you failed at, you failed alone, chasing your own paths. This time, God sends you, and he goes with you.

Moses was eighty years old when God called him. The Lord had stripped him of everything he had learned among the Egyptians, then sent him out at the moment he was weakest, because "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says Yahweh of Armies" (Zechariah 4:6). You don't step into your calling because you're ready. You step into it because God is with you.

Your age doesn't matter. Moses was eighty when he answered. Erica Wolp, a missionary mentioned in the sermon, was saved at fourteen and went on her first mission trip that same year, with no idea how, simply by praying. God sent someone to give her exactly what she needed. Whether you're very young or very old, God can use you now.

4. Walk! Put your foot in the sea before it opens

Here is the sermon's title, and its heart: walk. When Israel reaches the Red Sea, the Egyptians behind them and the sea in front, the sea is still closed. God doesn't say, "the sea will open, then you will walk." He tells Moses, "Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it" (Exodus 14:15-16). You have to move first, put your foot forward, step out, and it's in walking that the sea opens.

The devil will always show you everything that could go wrong if you do what God is asking you to do. Everything you're missing, everything around you or in you that seems incompatible with victory. But the only way to reach victory is to go put your foot in the sea so that it opens.

If you don't look for a job, you won't find one. If you don't sit the exam, you'll never pass it. If you don't do the thing you don't know how to do, you'll never do it. So walk. It's okay that you don't know how. If the Lord is sending you, he will show you along the way.

In the church, we learn by walking. You don't know how to share your faith? Stand next to someone who does, listen, and next time, you're the one speaking. We learn together, we build together. Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the elders: they weren't builders to start with, they were shepherds. The Lord moved them up one step at a time. For you, the next step might be an exam, a hard conversation, a service you take on, a ministry you commit to, a decision to turn away from a sin. Every step is a foot in the sea.

God's peace is your compass. This isn't about running in every direction. The Lord has placed you somewhere, given you a prophetic word, a guide, a vision. Stay where he has placed you, and serve there. If you leave your place to chase a project that looks very Christian but that God never asked you to do, you get attacked and nothing prospers. Come back to where the Lord sent you, and everything falls back into place.

The Lord wants to dust off your promises. Maybe you've been a Christian for a long time, or maybe you just met Jesus. Either way, ask him: "Lord, open my eyes. Remind me what you promised me. Remind me what I promised you." There are dreams buried inside you that God wants to bring back to life. It's time to get up and walk.

Key takeaways

• God designed you before you were even born with a specific plan (Jeremiah 1:5). Your life carries a divine intention, never an accident.
• The enemy's relentless attacks against you are often the measure of God's plan for you. The midwives in Exodus chose God over Pharaoh, and God blessed them.
• The desert of preparation is never wasted: the years when God seems silent are the raw material of your calling (Romans 8:28).
• God reveals himself through very simple signs (a bush that burns and isn't consumed), which you can miss if you're waiting for something spectacular.
• Your qualification isn't your strength, your eloquence, or your resume. It's "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12).
• Your age doesn't matter: Moses was 80, Erica was 14. God calls whoever he wants, whenever he wants.
• Walk before the sea opens. It's by putting your foot in the water that the way opens. Without a first step, there is no victory.
• Stay where God has placed you. God's peace is your compass, not a project that just looks spiritual.

Personal application

• What "plan of God" for your life have you buried under years of silence? What promise do you want to ask the Lord to remind you of this week?
• Where is the enemy whispering to you today: "You never made it before, why now?" What answer from Exodus 3:12 do you want to speak back to him?
• Is there a "Midian desert" you're living through right now (a season of silence, a modest job, a hidden service) that you're tempted to look down on?
• What is the sea in front of you today: an exam, a conversation, a ministry, a repentance, a forgiveness to offer? What is the first step you can take this week?
• Have you stayed where God placed you, or have you run after a project that looks Christian but that God never asked you to do?

Scriptures cited

• Exodus 1:15-22
• Exodus 1:21
• Exodus 2:1-10
• Exodus 2:11-15
• Exodus 3:1-6
• Exodus 3:11
• Exodus 3:12
• Exodus 4:10
• Exodus 14:15-16
• Jeremiah 1:5
• Zechariah 4:6
• Acts 7:22
• Romans 8:28
• Ephesians 2:10

FAQ

What does "put your foot in the sea before it opens" mean?

It's the image drawn from Exodus 14. Standing before the Red Sea, God doesn't part the water first and then tell Israel to cross. He first commands them to walk: "Stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it" (Exodus 14:15-16). The miracle happens in the movement. As long as you wait for every condition to be met before obeying, the way stays closed. The first obedient step is what God is waiting for to open the path.

Why did God wait until Moses was 80 to call him?

Because Moses at 40, trained in Pharaoh's court, would have resembled the very oppressor he was meant to confront. The forty years in the desert of Midian stripped him of his pride and his own strength, and made him credible to the people he was going to set free. God sends his servants out at the moment they are weakest, because "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit" (Zechariah 4:6). Your years of preparation are never wasted.

How can I know if God is really calling me to something?

Three simple markers from the sermon: (1) the Word: God confirms it through a verse, a teaching, the Bible opened before you; (2) peace: the Spirit of the Lord gives inner freedom and peace where he sends you (2 Corinthians 3:17); (3) confirmation from those God has placed around you: a pastor, a mentor, a community that knows you. If you run off alone into a project that looks very Christian but that God never asked you to do, you lose everything, even with the best intentions. Stay where he has placed you, serve there, and he will open the sea before you.