it arrives when you take a step…

you could read the bible from cover to cover and you would find event after event, story after story, of this principle that if you choose GOD’s way then GOD’s power shows up. 

have you seen the prince of egypt?  if you didn’t, you can read the book – the bible.  cliff note version:  in egypt, pharaoh is the leader of egypt and he has the israelites as slaves.  it’s a terrible situation for these israelites.  they are GOD’s people.  moses, representing GOD and GOD’s people, goes to pharaoh and says, “let my people go.”  GOD wants them out of slavery and out of egypt.  pharaoh keeps saying, no and plagues come on egypt.  and finally after the tenth plague, pharaoh puts up his hands and says, “ok, they can go.”  moses marches the israelites out of egypt. 

imagine being a slave for years and now you’re free.  they’re dancing and they’re singing and having a good old time marching out of egypt.  back in egypt, pharaoh all of a sudden goes, “what did i just do?”  he starts thinking about all the slaves and the free labor – a recession, a depression – and he goes, “i must have been crazy to let them go!  who’s going to make bricks in the hot sun?  who’s going to clean the bathroom?  who’s going to do all this stuff?” 

so he calls out the egypt national guard and says let’s go get them.  imagine you’re an israelite and you’re kind of singing and dancing and marching to freedom and all of a sudden you look over your shoulder and you see the egyptian army coming after you with obvious evil intent.  in front of you is a sea.  they’re chasing you into a sea.  it’s a holocaust in the making. 

now, all of a sudden, they think they’re going to get killed and they start going crazy. they say to moses in exodus 14, “then they turned against moses and complained, ‘why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?  weren’t there enough graves for us in egypt?  why did you make us leave?  our slavery was far better than us dying out here in the wilderness.’” 

i wonder if some of us say that sometimes.  “our powerless life was far better than stepping out in faith.”  but moses told the people “don’t be afraid.  just wait and watch what GOD will do.”

would you take that answer?  think about it: you’re thinking “i’m either going to get drowned or killed and moses says, “relax, pal!  and watch what GOD will do.”  i don’t know.  i don’t think i would keep marching into the ocean.  i don’t think i have that kind of faith.  i think i’d be one of those guys saying, “i think i’ve got something caught in my sandals.  why don’t you go ahead?” 

it says, “the LORD himself will fight for you.  you won’t have to lift a finger in defense.”  and we know what happens  (especially if you’ve been to universal studios).  GOD speaks and the ocean opens up.  GOD’s power arrives as they took that step in faith. 

just a thought from the front porch…