DayBreaks for 10/01/19: The Reason for the Wind
From the DayBreaks archive, September 2009:
I think we often misjudge the Israelites. When they left Egypt in the beginning, they were headed on a route that would take them toward the coast of the Mediterranean. Imagine their consternation when God told them to turn around, go back the other way and head towards the Red Sea. Try to put yourself in their place: they knew the Egyptians would be as mad as a nest of hornets, and now, instead of heading away, they’re heading back towards where they came from! Noah showed great faith, Abraham demonstrated his faith as did all the patriarchs, but this must rank right along with one of the greatest acts of faith of a large body of believers in all history. The pillars of cloud and fire were leading them into what appeared to be a death-trap where they would be stuck between the Egyptians and the sea. Yet they marched on.
The book of Exodus records precisely what happened in Exodus 14:21 – a strong east wind began to blow and it blew all night long, drying out the seabed and piling up the waters for the Israelites safe passage.
Have you ever contemplated what God did and why? I mean, He is God…all He would have needed to do was just say, “Waters, part! Ground, be dry!” and it surely would have been so. But that wasn’t what God did. Or, he could have said, “Wind – be a super wind and dry the ground instantly and push the waters apart!” It would have been far more spectacular, wouldn’t it? Surely, it would have clearly been seen as the hand of God controlling even the forces of nature.
Gerald Schroeder hit it on the head, I believe, with his observation from The Science of God, when he noted “Of course, the natural appearance of the wind was exactly the intent. Choices had to be made. For the Israelites, to trust in the Divine or to surrender to the Egyptians? For the Egyptians, to follow the Israelites onto the seabed or to retreat? Had the wind been obviously supernatural, the decisions would have been predictable, and free will would have been compromised.” Note in reading the story that the wind was so obviously NOT supernatural, that the Egyptians did in fact follow Israel onto the seabed, and only when they were trapped in the waters did they acknowledge the miracle: “The Eternal fights for them.” (14:25)
Schroeder then goes on to make sure the point is clear: “The biblical message: not every extraordinary event in nature is labeled ‘miracle, made in heaven.’ Sometimes we must read between the lines to apprehend its full significance.”
Are you looking for miracles that are so clear that you’ll have no doubt – in other words, something so clear that you’ll not have to act in faith? God didn’t provide that luxury to Israel more often than not, and I doubt He will for us. Many miracles go undetected because we are looking for such a huge, supernatural happening that when the wind blows we attribute it to nothing more than fluctuations in air pressure.
May God open our eyes to the miracles that surround us each day…but give us the faith to act when it seems to be nothing out of the ordinary.
PRAYER: Forgive our desire and insistence of super-visible miracles and our ignorance of normal, everyday miracles that come constantly from Your hand! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>