To Die For

Last night as I was doing review with my children's quiz group we ran upon an interesting verse of scripture. Exodus 14:30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.



My young group of 1,2, and 3 graders all seemed to pick up on how weak the faith of the Israelite people was UNTIL they actually saw all of the Egyptians lying dead on the sea shore. The question was raised why didn't they believe (the Israelites) that God was able in the first place. After some elementary discussion we concluded that this is true today and that sometimes it takes that much extreme in our lives for us to really believe in God, even to the point sometimes of the death of a loved one.



But then if you look at this story you can also see the similarity of Jesus in here too. Jesus has come as the Messiah and predicts that he must suffer as the Son of Man, so that all may have life. He even goes as far to predict His own death. But just as the Israelite people seemed not to believe totally until they saw the dead Egyptians, it would seem the same can be said of the Messiah as others failed to believe until they saw Jesus actually on the cross being crucified. But even then it is evident that the visual of a lifeless Messiah who predicted His own suffering, as well as His own resurrection still hadn't convinced everyone. As in the resurrected Christ and His appearance to the disciples there was still disbelief until some could physically touch Him.



So as we look at the patterns of life even throughout the Bible is it that hard to believe that sometimes it takes actual death for people to begin to believe that God is real? Perhaps it's that final realization that God is the giver and taker of all things that finally sinks in, or perhaps it's the realization that the loss of the one loved should they be a Believer is not a loss at all but a beginning to a life with Christ in eternity and it's our realization that in order to share that we need to put our trust in God. Or perhaps in the uncertainty of it all, we learn that the only sure thing is the presence of God as we lean upon Him more and more during our times of heartache. Whatever the case may be it would seem it brings a new insight to the words of Christ when He taught in Luke 9:24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.



For it seems in death we believe.



Blessings to you all