To Remember the Exodus

Yesterday afternoon I read in Exodus about the parting of the Red Sea--an act of deliverance so glorious and incredible that this video can't even begin to capture it (though it gets some of the majesty). The Israelites respond in song. "Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Then, even before the chapter has a chance to end, they complain that God's deliverance is insufficient and that they would be better off in Egypt.

Yesterday morning Pastor Carne preached a sermon about the purposes of suffering--to sanctify and refine us for the ineffable purposes of God's glory and love. I responded with quiet thanksgiving. This will help me to better deal with my illness! I thought. Then, even before 36 hours had a chance to pass, I was complaining heartily about how circumstances were not meeting my own selfish desires.

When I got up today, I could barely understand how the Israelites could forget so soon. Now I realize that I did the same thing, except more quickly.

So now I must claim the same grace that the Israelites claimed again and again in the wilderness. If today's sin was motivated by forgetfulness, now I must remember--remember God's grace, God's faithfulness, and God's goodness--and be thankful. For indeed, there is much to be thankful about. I can be thankful for the parting of the Red Sea as an expression of God's personal favor toward me, because if the sea had not parted and Israel had been destroyed, Christ would not have been born and I would not have been saved. I can be thankful for the invisible seas--smaller, perhaps, but nonetheless important--that God has parted so that I may attend this particular school with these particular friends and this particular church, all of which have challenged and encouraged me greatly in my spiritual growth. I can be thankful for God's protection in the past, both spiritually and physically, and the fact that every pore of life now glistens with purpose and the reflected glory of God.