October 1st

But God

             The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them.  It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

            Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.  The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.  At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic.  He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

Exodus 14:19-25

             Sometimes life gives us no good choices.  For the Israelites it was to either be slaughtered by the Egyptian army, be carted back into slavery or drown in the vastness of the Red Sea.  Every single one of those options would result in the end of the children of Israel.  But God…

            These two words encapsulate scripture more efficiently than any other expression I have found.  The Israelites were about to be wiped out, But God stepped in and delivered them.  The Kingdom of Israel was almost overrun dozens and dozens of times, But God fought their battles for them and saved His people.  Humanity was crushed by the weight of its own sin and doomed to destroy itself, But God sent His son to defeat sin and death and create a way home for His lost children.

            Sometimes life gives us no good choices, But God speaks life into our hearts and our circumstances and we are brought out of darkness by His power and His power alone. 

·         There was my friend who was paralyzed in a trampoline accident in Guatemala and facing either major surgery in a third world hospital or flying home as a quadriplegic.  She would be broken for the rest of her life, But God stepped in and healed her overnight before the operation. 

·         There were the tens of thousands of dollars in school debt that I owed that were about to force me to either abandon the ministry or live in poverty for a decade.  But God stepped in and raised the value of some old stocks that I owned by 3,000 percent long enough for me to sell them and pay my school loans.  After that month, the stocks plummeted and never hit those heights again.

·         There was the prayer walk that I led during finals week that was in the pouring rain.  We could stop or everyone could get sick from walking in the weather, But God intervened.  We prayed that the rain would stop for the first time in 4 days.  Within 10 minutes the downpour had dropped to a drizzle and within 30 minutes, the clouds parted as we walked around campus praying.

The state of our world leads us to despair and destruction.  But God steps in to human history and works, bringing hope and healing and freedom to his sons and daughters.  When all is hopeless…when all is lost…when the odds are impossibly stacked against us…remember…

But God

           

             

A moment to reflect:

Where have you seen God do miracles?