The story of the Children of Israel always fascinated me as a kid, the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the wandering, The mana from heaven, the healed bitter water, the golden calf, The Lord continuously blessing them, and their foolishness & murmuring after 430 years of pleading to be delivered from bondage.
I have heard theses stories many times, as have you I'm sure, but yesterday as I was preparing to teach my seminary class there was one phrase that stuck out to me. The strange thing is that we are in Exodus 14, which has a lot of powerful and beautiful phrases, and the one that stuck out to me was not one of those. It was simple and found in Exodus 14:15 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward (emphasis added)."
Almost immediately I thought of Simon Peter in Matthew 14:22-33. Here again we usually talk about Peter and his walking on the water, how his faith falters, and the Lord saves him. But I was drawn to this part of the story,... "And when Peter was come down out of the ship..."
In both cases, the Children of Israel & Peter, had to take action (faith + works) before the miracles came. The Children of Israel had to walk forward towards the Red Sea--before Moses parted it by the Lord's power. Peter had to get out of the boat and step into/on to the water--before being able to walk towards the Savior on the water.
I wonder how many times in my life I have asked, even pleaded with the Lord, for deliverance. Then on the cusp of the Lord making it happen, in His time and on His terms, I have murmured because the way seemed impossible. I wonder how many times I've asked the Lord to work miracles in my life. Then when the opportunity came I sat inside the boat instead of walking on the water.
I hope to be more faithful; more of a believer and less of a murmurer. I hope that in order to make more miracles happen in my life I become action-oriented with my faith. I hope that I can, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord" in my life.
1 comment:
I like it. You have a good head for thoughts and prayers. You have a good point in this blog. I have a question, What if someone had a lot of courage, like so much it corrupted him. Is this possible?
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