When the children of Israel got to Rephidim in the wilderness, there was no water. They complained, just as they had at Marah where the water was undrinkable. God had healed the water there, but their memories were short, as ours often are. So they threatened Moses to the point that he thought they would stone him. He cried out to God and the Lord had him pass before the people with a few elders a...  Read More

Every day except Saturday, the people of God went out in the morning and gathered manna. On Saturday they rested. But every day but Saturday they went out and got their food for the day. Fresh bread. Fresh provision from God. Fresh opportunity to trust that morning by morning when they opened their tent flaps and stepped out, it would be there. Manna from heaven. Which gave them a fresh occasion t...  Read More

You may have heard the story about the monk who joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years his superior called him in and asked, “Do you have anything to say?” The monk replied, “Food bad.” After another 10 years the monk again had opportunity to voice his thoughts. He said, “Bed hard.” Another 10 years went by and again he was called in before his superior. When asked ...  Read More

“Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea.” The word there is forceful, meaning Moses had to pull them up or to pluck them out. I love that because I would imagine the pillar of cloud started to move and the people did not budge. They had been on a mountaintop like we cannot begin to imagine. It was on this seashore that they had seen the hand of the Lord move in a powerful way and they res...  Read More

He stood only five feet tall in his socks, and his huge head looked too large for his body. His nose was crooked, his eyes small and piercing, his body frail. Physically there was nothing appealing about him. He fell in love with a young woman and proposed to her, but her insensitive response was, “I like the jewel but not the setting.” He never married. But may I just offer a rhyme for those who ...  Read More

Moses and the people of God were backed up against the Red Sea as Pharaoh and his army charged across the plains toward them. God said, “Tell the people to go forward.” God was about to divide the sea! This was not a natural event any more than the birth of Jesus was a natural event. God did this. God then told Moses that He would harden the hearts of the Egyptians to go in after them. There is no...  Read More

Sometimes the Lord opens a door so wide that it shocks you as you stumble through it into a place that is clearly His will. Especially when the door opens in a place where you know there is opposition to you or to your message. Paul said the same of his time in Ephesus, a godless city of affluence, worldly lusts, and idolatry. He wrote to the church in Corinth, “I hope to spend some time with you,...  Read More

John heard a loud voice from heaven, the place that cannot be shaken, and the voice said, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” The kingdom of God has come, the authority of Christ is preeminent, Satan is defeated! But not only that,...  Read More

We used to sleep in the same bed together, my two brothers and me, on Christmas Eve. That alone was a Christmas miracle, given the fact that the other 364 days of the year would find us plotting ways to hurt one another. I remember BB gun fights, where we were running around the woods, shooting at each other. Or we would fight from room to room in the house with spit wads, using thick rubber bands...  Read More

Pharaoh, with a heart hardened by God, called all his army and every chariot in Egypt together and took off after Israel. They caught up with God’s people, camped out and backed up against the Red Sea, just as God had led them! The people of Israel heard horses and chariots and men’s footsteps behind them and you get the picture of 2 million people turning away from the Pillar of Cloud to watch th...  Read More

The importance of the firstborn has been lost in many ways in our culture, and of course we want to love each of our children the same. But in the ancient world, the firstborn son represented the future of the family. He was given rights and privileges that were not given to the others, including the right to inherit a double portion from his father. But this was not to show favoritism. He was to ...  Read More

The feast instituted by God in the Old Testament and the Lord’s Supper instituted by Christ in the New Testament are purposeful remembrances that point to God’s mighty acts of deliverance. Moses said to Israel, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place.” He repeats that twice more, “For with a strong ...  Read More