And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them… – Exodus 14:19

So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground…And it came to pass, in the morning watch, the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. – Exodus 14:22,24

Faith performs her greatest feats in the darkest places. These Israelites were to do what after all was a grandly glorious thing for them to do, -to march right down into the heart of the sea. What people ever did this before? Modern haters of miracles may say that they passed over the sands at an unusual tide, and that an extraordinarily strong wind drove back the water and left a passage, but that is not the notion of the Holy Spirit. He says by His servant Moses, “The floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.” It is also written, “But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” The tribes went down into the dread valley which remained when the waters dried up, and they crossed over between two frowning walls of water. You and I would have needed great faith to have gone down into such an abyss as that, but they descended without fear. Moses lifting up his rod and the waters rolling apart to make them a passageway, with no fiery cloudy pillar in front of them, they calmly marched into the heart of the sea. That was a grand act of faith. This would not have been so clearly of faith had the way been made easier by miracle and token. I know some of you who are Christian people want to be always coddled and cuddled, like weakly babies…and be wheeled in a spiritual perambulator all the way to heaven, but your heavenly Father is not going to do anything of the sort. He will be with you, but He will try your manhood and so develop it. God never spoils His children… Beloved, you and I lose the enjoyments of religion and the comforts of hope in order that we may walk by faith and not by sight and may the more greatly glorify God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1793.cfm