Guide

Where is the one who divided the waters before them—

winning for himself an everlasting renown—

Who guided them through the depths,

like horses in open country?

As cattle going down into the valley,

they did not stumble.
—Isaiah 63:12-14

You led your people through the waves,
your children through the depths
like horses on the open plain
who run for joy itself.
Then lead me as your led the herd—
oh, let me stumble not!—
by light and dark, by breath and word,
through death to life, O God!

And when you lead me through the depths
and chasms of my fear,
not only lead but draw my steps
and walk forever near,
that in the night of my abyss
I shall not want for light,
but as in all things so in this,
I find you still my guide.

So if I cannot see the way,
your mercy's flame still burns.
Though I am dark, yet there is day,
and always it returns.
I trust these dark and fearsome deeps 
are open to your sight,
then if you will my journey keep,
I'll run on through the night.

Wild Horses on the Range By Bureau of Land Management – http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/photo_gallery/photo81.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4746172

Caught Between the Sea and Egypt

Now Pharaoh was near when the Israelites looked up and saw that the Egyptians had set out after them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to the LORD. To Moses they said, “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? Far better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses answered the people, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and see the victory the LORD will win for you today. For these Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”
Exodus 14:10-14

Caught between the sea and Egypt:
Did you lead me here to die?
Crushed beneath the Pharaoh's edict,
yet I have no strength to fight,
and my heart can flee no longer
from the army that pursues.
O my champion, you are stronger:
Let them fight not me, but you.

I have fled headlong at midnight;
I have trod the Red Sea road,
but there seems no end to my flight,
and my fears are drawing close.
With your presence come and hide me;
with your cloud and shade surround.
Let me feel you here beside me
where my weakness runs to ground.

In my fear, be my abiding;
in the shadow, be my rest;
in my panic, be my guiding
on the paths I'd never guessed.
Make a ways through doubt and danger;
come in pow'r and set me free
from the oceans of my anger
with a sword that carves the sea.

Crossing the Red Sea, Rothschild Haggadah, ca. 1450 By יואל בן שמעון – The National Library of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29603675

Your Sons, Your Daughters

To the tune PICARDY (“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent”):

Moses raised his hands o'er the waters;
they stood up as stones, left and right.
Such the mighty pow'r of our Father,
raging seas to still and divide.
Yet 'tis through his sons, his daughters—
God works through the hands we provide.

“Come to me,” says Christ on the waters,
walking on the sea as on stone,
calling us to trust in his Father,
though we are by storms overthrown.
Will we come as sons, as daughters,
or will he walk on all alone?

Terrifying now are those waters;
will they lead us into our graves?
Can this be the will of our Father?
Are we testing whether he saves?
Help, oh Lord, your sons, your daughters,
seeking you in each of the waves!

Come, oh Christ, to these raging waters;
come to make a way out of none.
Draw us all back home to our Father;
bind our wounded hearts; make us one.
Raise us up, your sons, your daughters;
walk the waves 'til all storms are done.