God’s majesty is present in every sunrise.
Anyone who has ever traveled with young children has heard the famous words, “Are we there yet?” Children are usually very impatient to get to where they are going. But, truthfully, aren’t we all? We can’t wait to grow up. We can’t wait to get married. We can’t wait to have kids. We can’t wait for our kids to get a little older and the list goes on and on.
I was just reading the Exodus account of God calling Moses to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. They had been in Egypt for 430 years. The group that started from Joseph and his eleven brothers and their families had grown to 600 thousand men and that didn’t even take into account women and children. They had become slaves to the people who their ancestors had saved. The text says, “Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.” Exodus 1:8
The Egyptians may had forgotten about Joseph saving them with God’s special gifts, but God had not forgotten. He never forgets His people or His promises. He told Abraham centuries before that He would give them the land flowing with milk and honey. So, God calls Moses to lead them home, but first they have to get out of Egypt.
Imagine the Israelites’ wonder and surprise, when Moses tells them that God is going to lead them home. Here’s the part where I’m thinking He should just have them click their heels together like Dorothy in the, “Wizard of Oz.” Tell Pharaoh to let the people go and if he refuses, then just strike him down. I mean, God has that power. I’ll bet they too, had something easier and speedier in mind. Isn’t that our human nature?
Well, Moses tells Pharaoh to let the people go and he refuses and then he makes the Israelites work even harder. And God rains down ten plagues on the Egyptians. He turned the Nile to blood, sent frogs, flies, gnats and locusts. He killed cattle and sent hail and covered the land in pitch black for three days. He covered the Egyptians with boils, but Pharaoh would not relent. Then He killed all of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians and at last, Pharaoh chased them out. (at first)
But, I wonder what all of the Israelites were thinking when this was happening. Were they in complete awe of God’s power? Were they frightened? Were they growing in faith with each plague that missed them and got the Egyptians or were they just desperate to get home already?
While we can be completely fascinated with God’s awesome show of power in this story, these desperate, tired people just wanted to go home to a place where they were free to worship, a place that had been promised to them centuries before. I wonder about the Red Sea parting and the manna falling. They had to have been amazed at God’s glory, but they also had to have been anxious for a place to call home.
I wonder how often we miss small miracles all around us in our desperate quest to get to where we are going. How often to we miss God’s wonder and majesty? It’s so easy to get focused on some future goal or place that we miss the manna in our lives. God’s majesty is ever-present. In sunsets and sunrises in the flowers of spring and the leaves of fall in each first breath of a newborn baby, His fingerprints are there.
The God of Joseph and Moses is our God. His power is just as awesome as it was back in Moses’ day. He never changes. Let’s never forget who He is and what He does everyday. Let’s try to enjoy the ride and stop asking, “Are we there yet?”
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂