Pray for President Obama as he travels to Saudi Arabia this week to meet with Saudi King Abdullah. The meeting will take place June 3 in Riyadh. The two leaders will discuss a range of important issues, including Middle East peace, Iran and terrorism. The Saudi stop will come at the start of the President�s already-planned trip to Egypt, Germany and France. President Obama plans to address U.S.-Muslim relations in Egypt, visit the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, and mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day in France.
1-2 Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God,
And also obedience.
You hear the prayer in it all.
2-3 We all arrive at your doorstep sooner
or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us�
but you get rid of them once and for all. (The Message)
"Thanksgiving is due to the Lord for his goodness shown to his Church and people.
"None could venture into his presence without a persuasion of his being open to entreaty; but when he anticipates our fears, and comes forward declaring that prayer is never offered to him in vain, the door is thrown wide for the admission of all."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
Chapter 12 begins with some very detailed instructions for what would become "Passover" for all Jewish people, which is observed to this day. The main point of it, though, for the people in Egypt, was the blood. They were to smear the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. When God "passed over" the land that night, he would not strike the houses with the blood on their doorposts.
At midnight that night, the Lord "struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt." "And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead." Pharaoh summoned Moses and pretty much begged them to leave. At the end, he even asked for a blessing.
As they were leaving, the Hebrews plundered the Egyptians. Remember in the last reading, where they asked for silver and gold from the Egyptians?
Also, the number of people that left Egypt is pretty staggering. According to the Bible, there were 600,000 men, along with women and children. So we are talking well over a million people, here! Just for reference, the 2009 estimated population of Dallas, Texas is 1.3 million.
Israel lived in Egypt 430 years.
In contrast of what had just happened, at the beginning of Exodus 13, God commands the Israelites to consecrate every firstborn to him.
Rather than lead them through Philistine lands (because they might change their minds and want to go back), the Lord led them south, towards the Red Sea. He led them with a pillar of cloud during the day, and a pillar of fire by night.
Chapter 14 chronicles the crossing of the Red Sea. Now there are lots of theories which try to minimalize the effect of the miracle that happens here. All I know is that the Bible says that over a million people crossed a body of water, right through the middle, "on dry ground."
During this process, God hardened Pharaoh's heart one last time. He suddenly decided that letting the Israelites go was a bad idea and decided to chase them. God had led them to a place that made Pharaoh think they were trapped in the wilderness. As Pharaoh approached them, they had the sea on one side and his army on the other. They started wailing. "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" they said.
Moses, however, said, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Wow. Moses had great confidence in God, didn't he?
So Moses lifted up his staff and held out his hand over the sea, and it parted. All of those people crossed over on dry ground. Pharaoh chased in after them. As the people got to the other side, God caused the wheels of Pharaoh's chariots to get clogged up. Then he told Moses to hold out his hand again, so that the water would come back together. Pharaoh and his army were covered and were never seen again.
Now. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that if some of the theories I've heard about this are true, Pharaoh and his army were only six inches tall. The fact is, whatever sea they crossed had water deep enough to destroy Pharaoh's entire army, and the Bible says that the Hebrews crossed with a "wall" of water on either side of them.
It was a miracle of tremendous proportion.
What I learn from this reading is that God can do pretty much anything he wants to to deliver his people. I also learn the importance of the "blood of the lamb." The Passover event is an obvious foreshadowing of what the blood of Christ does for us today. When God looks at us and sees the blood fo the Lamb on the "doorposts" of our hearts, he "passes over" us and we are not punished for our sins.
I thank you for the blood of the Lamb that covers my heart and covers my sin from your sight.
Grace and peace, friends.