Tell The People ... -- E-day minus five

Recently the Lord comforted me greatly with a passage in Exodus: Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord … the Lord will fight for you, and you will hold your peace. I chewed on that passage and the surrounding verses for several days, and then a few days later, I got stuck on the next verse.

No sooner had Moses told the people to stand still and shut up, than the Lord says to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to go forward." Quit whining. Do what I tell you, and it’ll be fine.

What happened was this. A piece of equipment that I needed in my business stopped working properly. When I called the manufacturer, they listened to my "symptoms" and declared that I’d need to replace it. Replacing it would have been a financial difficulty for me, and I freaked out. I prayed and cried (or maybe cried and prayed would be more accurate) for a little while, and then pulled out that passage in Exodus again.

Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to go forward.

Okay, Lord. (Sigh.) I will bite the bullet and replace the equipment, and trust that You will provide for me.

I went back to work, and that equipment worked. It has worked ever since. It was a miracle.

I mention that because upon further reflection, I noticed that almost all miracles share these characteristics: first the people had to stop stressing and calm down and be quiet (so that they could hear God’s voice, perhaps); after that they had to go forward. When they took steps to go forward as the Lord commanded them, He did what they could not do. Very frequently the step that was required was a commitment that would have meant death or looking foolish if God had not come through.

There was Noah with his ark. We all know about Abraham, who had to leave before he found out where he was going. There was Gideon, and who knows what would have happened to his army and even his whole country if he had rushed down that mountainside and the Lord hadn’t done His part. How could we forget Jesus? What an incredible commitment death was. What if God had forgotten him, and not raised him again? There was the widow who had to give her last food to the prophet. What if the Lord hadn’t provided her with more? Another widow had to borrow containers from all her neighbors (don’t tell me she didn’t risk looking foolish) and then she had to start pouring her little bit of oil into the containers. She probably felt exceedingly silly, doing it.

For some reason, the Lord nearly always requires us to make a full commitment before He’ll come through. You have to "take the plunge."

I don’t fully understand it, but I know it’s true: before you get your miracle, you have to go forward.

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