Scary word for the day (2)

Miracle.

I have faith. I know it's in here somewhere. But I can't always find it when I need it. I have so many needs - finances are amazingly tight right now, and I am working to get myself into better physical shape, our church is attempting to launch a new offensive against apathy and spiritual stagnation, people I know and care about are sick, homeless, out of work, and my cars are beginning to show their age.

So - of the statements in the paragraph above, which one holds the most power to change my life? Well, I sure hope it's the one about faith.

I am reading the Bible daily now - not something I have done for awhile. I enjoy creating blogs, journals, teachings and such, so I tend to study for those. I can go on for days on a single passage or chapter or book of the Bible. But then when I finish I may not open the word for awhile again. But I have been challenged to get into a simple, daily reading plan. To take in the word even when I am not expected to put it out. I'm using the plan available here at Bible Gateway.com

Today I read about several miracles. God is a miracle-worker, and I think today's Christian wants to downplay that sometimes. But He was, and still is in the business of interrupting our business, and our daily lives. And when God moves into our daily lives, things happen which go beyond our expectations. When God shows up - well, things happen.

Today I read about the nation of Israel leaving Egypt - as slaves with limited permission - and coming smack up against the Red Sea. Back in Bible College we learned the most likely route that the Israelites would have taken, and we had to study maps and photos of the region. There is no actual remnant of the event left on the ground, no GPS coordinates recorded in stone, no Historical Monument marker showing us the exact location that they came to the Red Sea, so some scholars postulate that the place at which they stopped, and then crossed the Red Sea was a delta area in which the water could have been miles wide, but only about a foot or six inches deep. Other scholars believe that they know the location with certainty based on city locations, sonar readings, new maps, and even gold-plated chariot wheels found on the bottom of the sea.

I'm OK with our arrogant presumption that we know what the Bible doesn't carefully spell out for us. I'm OK with the scholarly attempt to locate the exact place, and I'm OK with the fact that it happened so long ago and that the natural habit of rivers is to move, change, and shift their channels all the time. I have read a study which says it happened while still in Egypt, so it had to be the Nile River. I'm even OK with the 'fact' that the water may have been only six inches deep - because the Bible says that after the Israelites went through on dry ground, the Egyptians followed them in, and drowned.

So which is the greater miracle? That the Israelites made it across on dry ground with 'walls of water on each side,' or that the Egyptian army - to a man - drowned in six inches of water?

Lord - I need you to be God in my life. You are God, and I am not. Amen.