One of the hardest things about going through a difficult season is not necessarily the difficulty itself. It is the feeling that you are going through it alone. We can handle an amazing amount of trouble if we know someone is beside us. What makes suffering especially difficult is when God seems distant precisely when we need Him most.

That must have crossed the minds of the Israelites at the Red Sea. They had followed God out of Egypt, but now Pharaoh’s army was approaching and the sea was blocking their escape. Yet there was something important happening that frightened people could easily have missed: God had not left them.

That brings us to the seventh principle in Robert J. Morgan’s The Red Sea Rules and Lesson 7 of my Red Sea Rules question-based Bible study: Envision God’s enveloping presence.

God Was There All Along

Exodus 14:19–20 describes a remarkable scene. The angel of God who had been traveling in front of Israel moved behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved with Him. The presence that had been leading them was now standing between them and the Egyptian army.

Nothing about Israel’s circumstances suggested safety. Pharaoh was still there. The sea was still there. The danger had not disappeared. But God was there too.

That is one of the truths we need most when life becomes difficult. We tend to measure God’s presence by our circumstances. When things are going well, we say, “God has really blessed me.” When everything starts falling apart, we wonder, “God, where are You?”

The Red Sea story teaches us not to confuse difficult circumstances with divine absence. Sometimes God is doing His greatest work in the very place where He seems hardest to see.

God Goes Before You—and Behind You

I love the picture in Exodus 14 because God’s presence changes position according to what His people need.

Until this moment, the pillar had been in front of Israel, showing them where to go. Now the danger was coming from behind, so the pillar moved behind them. God’s presence became a barrier between His people and their enemy.

The God who had guided them was now guarding them.

We often have a very narrow idea of what God’s presence should look like. We want Him to remove the problem. We want Him to open the door. We want Him to make the decision obvious. We want Him to answer the prayer in the way we have imagined.

But sometimes God’s presence does not remove the danger immediately. Sometimes He stands between us and the danger while He prepares the way forward.

That may not be the miracle we were asking for, but it is still the presence of God.

God’s Presence Is a Promise, Not a Feeling

There will be days when you feel very close to God. There will also be days when you don’t.

Our emotions matter, but they are unreliable measures of spiritual reality. If God’s presence depended on whether we felt Him, we would spend our lives wondering whether He had come and gone.

Scripture gives us something much more dependable.

God told Joshua, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5 NIV). David wrote, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4 NIV). Jesus promised His disciples, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV).

Notice what these promises do not say. God does not promise that we will always feel His presence. He promises that He will be present.

There is an enormous difference.

Sometimes We Need to Practice the Presence of God

If God is always with us, why are we so often unaware of Him?

Part of the answer is attention. We can become so consumed with what is happening around us that we stop noticing the One who is with us.

The Israelites had plenty to look at. There was an army behind them and an ocean in front of them. Fear naturally pulled their attention toward the threat. Yet standing between Israel and Egypt was the visible evidence of God’s presence.

We have to learn to redirect our attention toward God as well. That may mean beginning the morning with Scripture rather than immediately checking our phone. It may mean turning off the noise for a few minutes and praying. It may mean taking a walk and deliberately remembering that God is with us. It may mean stopping several times during the day and simply saying, “Lord, You are here.”

We are not trying to make God present by doing these things. We are training ourselves to recognize the God who is already present.

You Don’t Have to Face Tomorrow Alone

One of our greatest sources of anxiety is imagining ourselves facing tomorrow’s problems with today’s resources. We picture the difficult meeting, the medical appointment, the financial decision, the family problem, or the uncertain future, and we wonder whether we will be able to handle it.

But there is something missing from that picture.

God will be there.

The grace you need tomorrow does not have to arrive today. God gives grace when it is needed. The God who is with you today will not disappear overnight.

Israel did not yet know how they were going to cross the Red Sea. They did not need to know. Before God opened the sea, He gave them something else they desperately needed: His presence.

Sometimes before God changes our circumstances, He reminds us that we will not face those circumstances alone.

Look Back and Remember

There is another practical way to become more conscious of God’s presence: remember the times when He has been faithful before.

Israel would eventually look back at the Red Sea as one of the defining moments in its history. Again and again, Scripture would remind later generations of what God had done in Egypt and at the sea. Yesterday’s deliverance became fuel for tomorrow’s faith.

We can do something similar. Think about the difficult seasons you have already survived. There were probably moments when you wondered how you would ever get through them. Yet here you are.

Perhaps God provided through another person. Perhaps circumstances changed unexpectedly. Perhaps He gave you strength to endure something He did not remove. Perhaps the answer looked nothing like what you had prayed for, but looking back, you can see that God was working.

Remembering yesterday’s faithfulness helps us recognize today’s presence.

God Is With You at Your Red Sea

Maybe your circumstances have not changed. The diagnosis is still the diagnosis. The financial problem still needs solving. The relationship is still difficult. You still don’t know what is going to happen next.

The lesson of Exodus 14 is not that Christians never find themselves in frightening places. The lesson is that we never find ourselves there alone.

The same God who went before Israel also stood behind them. He guided them when they needed guidance, guarded them when they needed protection, and eventually opened a road where no road existed.

You may not know what God is going to do next. You may not see a path through your Red Sea yet. But before you ask God to show you the path, remember something even more fundamental.

He is already there.

Study Red Sea Rules With Your Group

This article is based on Lesson 7 of my Red Sea Rules: A Question-Based Bible Study Guide, a 10-session study based on Robert J. Morgan’s The Red Sea Rules and the events of Exodus 14–15. The study uses Scripture, discussion questions, practical applications, and insights from respected Christian teachers to help groups explore what trusting God looks like when life becomes difficult.

Red Sea Rules is available now on Amazon. You can also learn more about the study and access it through Good Questions Have Groups Talking at Red Sea Rules Bible Study.

Next in the series: God Doesn’t Always Answer the Way We Expect: Trust Him to Deliver in His Own Unique Way.