Wednesday, May 1, 2013

God's Transportation System


Then Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and all that night the
LORD drove the sea back with a strong
east wind and turned it into dry land
The waters were divided, and the
Israelites went through the sea on dry
ground, with a wall of water on their
right and on their left.
                           Exodus 14:21-22 

     God’s specialty! Providing a way out when there seems to be no way! Grace for the hour!

     All night long, the Israelites could hear the wind of God blowing across the Red Sea. Perhaps they were thinking, “We will have to decide about how to cross the sea only if the wind does not first blow us away.” They certainly could not have expected God to deliver them from the armies of Pharaoh by simply walking them across the sea. But He did!

     God specializes in unique delivery systems; the Israelites across the Red Sea, Jonah to Nineveh, Elijah ran faster than a chariot to Jezreel, Stephen from the stones to the throne room of heaven…

     But, too often we think of those Biblical events and refuse to believe that God continues to do the same today. We like to read about the Red Sea crossing, the whale spewing Jonah onto dry ground, and Elijah beating Ahab to Jezreel by running right past his chariot. Secretly, we may wish that God would perform some such miracle in our own lives.

     Psalm 50:15 tells us to “Call upon Me (God-mine) in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” When we face a giant, we are not afraid to ask God to provide deliverance.

     However, we are not so quick to ask God to deliver us, like Stephen, from the stones to the throne room. We forget, or choose to ignore, the miracle delivery system God uses to escort us from this world to the next. We want to live—normal desire. We like to focus on the works of our Heavenly Father that give us our desired outcome—health vs. illness, financial freedom vs. debt, friends vs. enemies… When we get our way, we praise God for the miracle, and we should.

     Could it be, however, that the greatest miracle (after salvation) is the one that transports a child of God from this world into the presence of our Heavenly Father? Luke 16:22 tells us that “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side…”—escorted by angels from this world to the next.  

     God never changes! What He does for others, He will do for you. You are not the only one that God cannot or will not help. Don’t forget that those wonderful stories of deliverance we read about in God’s Word were all necessary because of some type of trauma, disaster or struggle which preceded the miracle. 

      God’s transportation system may not deliver us to our expected destination. We may want to stay when He tells us it is time to go. But do not fear, His way is best and His way is good. He gives us grace for the struggle and grace for our journey. And when he calls us to our final destination, the Child of God can look forward to being escorted into the presence of our holy Heavenly Father. Grace for the hour, and the best transportation system ever created!
 
     To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD. (II Corinthians 5:8)

 

JP 2013

No comments:

Post a Comment