Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 14:16 (New Living Translation)

16 Pick up your staff and raise it over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

This is part of the (hi)story of Moses leading the people out of Egypt on a 40-year journey to the land promised by God. I learned this as a child. The sea parted, the people walked through with walls of water on either side, and it all worked out just fine.

Try to back away from all those lessons in childhood. Read the words here: Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

Whoa. Are you kidding? Hold raise your walking stick up and point it a the big lake. The water will divide and the murky lake bottom will be so dry and solid that a million people can walk across it. And then this all happened just like that!

Whoa. Are you kidding? Just like that? Yes, just like that.

Sometimes we do ourselves a disservice by learning things as children instead of learning them as adults. Sometimes all these movies with all these gee whiz computer video things warp our brains into believing that the miraculous is just ordinary old stuff.

This was a miracle lived by a million people. And it was a miracle that destroyed an armored column of Egypt’s finest soldiers. There is no physical explanation. This was a miracle of a God who performs miracles. I cannot fathom the power of God.

Please God, let me never take your abilities for granted. Let me always be awe struck at the thought of you.