You know who did a fantastic job of showing the miracles of the Passover? Yes, The Ten Commandments was a masterpiece, but when I was a kid, the creators of the cartoon “Rugrats” entered the chat. The main character, Tommy, has Jewish heritage, and Nickelodeon made a Passover special depicting the plagues of Egypt and the miracles throughout, and they rocked it. By the time I was in upper-elementary school, the cartoon movie The Prince of Egypt (yes, the one with the Whitney Houston/Mariah Carrey duet on the soundtrack) came to pass, and it set records that have only recently been broken. Why has this story been one of the most popular in the Bible? Because it shows us a deeper look at God. Now, the movie makers might not see this as the reason, but think about it. This journey is riddled with the impossible, and God rewires all the physics and biology and ecology and other ology-s and just takes command of all of these patterns of happening that humans have counted on for millennia. Oh, the sun comes up every day? Not during the 9th plague. Oh, the Nile always runs? Umm…not with water in the first plague. We continue to rely on science to show us how we can interact with the Earth and the time we have on it, but it’s comforting to note that the One who commands the sciences can go off-script at any time “for the good of those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28)

Here’s the start of “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt, sung by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey:

“Many nights we prayed
With no proof, anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood
Now, we are not afraid
Although we know there’s much to fear
We were moving mountains
Long before we knew we could,”

No proof, unsure, yet they prayed anyway; that trust is the theme for this verse from June 16, 2023.

“👟 RSD 1144 ✅ Verse: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”— Exodus 14:14

This sounds sweet and simple, and it is. But, as always, we human it up, and sometimes the simplest solutions prove to be the hardest for us to do. The “be still” part: how am I supposed to fix everything (or, better yet, stop anything from happening) and accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished if I don’t do allllll the things? Well, some action on my part or your part might be required (probably will be to an extent), but I think the “be still” part is affording us the opportunity to take a minute and seek divine guidance. You know God (with all the “omni”s from the post yesterday)—maybe that’s who we need to focus on in these times. Maybe when we have no idea what to do, we should ask the One who does. The thing is: if we’re really seeking God, we can usually figure out the next right thing to do. God’s a “big picture” guy, but our goals are small. The only way to do anything big is by doing a lot of little things.

So, today’s verse is sweet, simple, and true—the kind of thing David would’ve said (or sung) or Jude would’ve been like (his whole book is, “Hey guys, we’ve got this”). For context, this was what Moses said to the Israelites just before parting the Red Sea (with quite a lot of help from God). (If you’re unfamiliar: Israelites were escaping slavery in Egypt—the Egyptians had the power, military, wealth, all the resources. The Israelites…well…they had each other, some farm animals, and God. Egypt decided they weren’t cool with the Israelites leaving, so they sent an army after them…and chased them all the way to, you guessed it, the Red Sea. As you might’ve guessed, God was of the opinion that the Israelites should win this one. No battle. No fight. Only a pathway made from dividing the water into two parts, enabling the Israelites to escape by safe passage to the other shore on the other side. The water closed behind them).

Parting the Red Sea is a big thing, but humans can really only do a bunch of small things that turn into big things. So, here’s the rundown (the way I see it anyway). The Israelites had the faith to heed the warnings of Moses and survive the plagues (that came before the Red Sea part…that’s pretty much how they got the head start ahead of the army); they had the faith to pack what they could (knowing not where they were going or how they’d get more food and water); they had the faith to leave (and that this guy who warned them about the plagues was sent by God to be the guy (the deliverer who would lead them out) that God had promised them long ago…so, they were in the “God keeps His promises” camp); they had the faith to keep going when the army was approaching; they had the faith to keep going when the pathway opened. A bunch of small decisions (including trusting God with all the stuff they had to do to survive the plagues) made a big difference that lead them to that pathway across the Red Sea. The whole part the water thing (you know, the big “this’ll take a miracle” part)? That was God. What I take from this: if we just keep doing the next right thing that God lays out, we’ll end up where we need to be, and God will do the rest.

When you’re desperate and tired and scared and frustrated, and you seem to be running toward crashing waves only to turn around to something worse, and you can see nothing in front of you but an army of actual (people) enemies, or an army of uncertainty, or an army of frustration, or an army of fear, or an army of regret, or an army of misfortune, or an army of guilt, or an army of past mistakes, or an army of betrayal, or an army of the opinions that make you feel unworthy, and all you can see is an ocean at your back (I know it’s a sea…large body of water with no way to swim across…stay with me)—try God. A safe pathway of dry ground is likely closer than you think.”