When our kids were really little, one of our favorite books to read with them was Going on a Bear Hunt. The repeated refrain goes: “We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it!” Whether it’s mud or tall grass or windy rain, the hunting party has to muster up the resilience to press on.
For ancient people, the ocean was a place of chaos. Depth and danger. Uncontrollable and deadly forces. Invisible threats below and unpredictable weather above. Even for the bravest sailors, it was always approached with trepidation and a healthy respect.
It’s noteworthy, then, that God’s final act of deliverance for the Hebrews was to march them straight through the heart of chaos. Facing the miraculously parted Red Sea, the newly liberated Hebrews might have been saying to their frightened little ones (and to themselves): “We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it!” (Well, maybe, that is, if Going on a Bear Hunt been written in Ancient Egyptian).
Sometimes following God will lead you not directly to peace, but right through the black heart of chaos. It doesn’t mean you’ve chosen wrongly. It doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you. Any deeply spiritual person will tell you that it’s just the way of things. “We’ve got to go through it.” The “dark night of the soul,” as St. John of the Cross called it, is a key feature of your re-humanization.
That’s good news! But there’s a bonus: the chaos not only your pathway, but your protection. When your enemies try to walk where you’ve walked, they will step into their own destruction. Your dry ground will be their grave.
Then, on the other side, towards the end of your story, you will sing, “What a beautiful day! We’re not scared!”
See Exodus 15:19-21.