Upside Down & Covered with Water

Exodus 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea as they chased His people.  Robert Hendrickson in his book, QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins  gives a good picture of what God did to them with the meaning and origin of the word overwhelm:

overwhelm.  Overwhelm means essentially the same thing as whelm, "to be completely overcome by something,"  but overwhelm is a more emphatic term.  Whelm has its roots in the Middle English whelm, meaning to capsize or turn a vessel upside down.  The English whelm was first recorded in the 13th century and soon took on the sense of turning a vessel upside down "so as to cover it" with water, which led to its modern meaning. (page 540)

The Bible says that God took their chariot wheels off.  Exodus14:25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.  I would imagine some of them tipped over as the wheels came off.  God overwhelmed them.

Have you ever felt like the Egyptians?  There are times in my life when I have felt like God has taken the wheels off my chariot, turned my life upside down and covered me with water.  Completely overwhelmed.  Verse eleven gives me hope.  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?   There are times in God's providence that we are overwhelmed.  He has a purpose for this in our lives, but it is good to remember that if God has the power to sink the Egyptians in the Red Sea, He has the power to turn our lives right side up again and pull us out of the water of despair.

Dear Father, You are mighty and wonderful.  There is none that is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises and doing wonders among your people.  Amen.