STMA: Quiet Time

Exodus 14-18 §

Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
Exodus 14:16

On dry ground. Not “on the seabed” or “through the mud”, but dry ground. God does not work miracles halfway. When we think of Moses parting the Red Sea, we think of water standing up, colossal towers of sea piling up on either side of the path. Maybe we don’t think enough about the LORD removing just enough of the water from the mud of the sea floor, about Him getting every last drop on every last rock so that not one Israelite got their feet wet (or at least so they didn’t need to). God thought not just about the spectacle, but about the details, the needs of His people. And he cared for them mightily.

We can trust God to care for us mightily, and even to get the details right.

And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.
Exodus 16:17-18

God has ordained all things so that we get exactly what we need. Try to grab for a little more? Doesn’t surprise God. Missed out on an opportunity? He’s planned for that.

Just like going through the Red Sea, our God doesn’t skip out on the details when he designs manna and causes it to fall from the heavens. Every day, exactly the right amount falls in exactly the right place and every person manages to pick up exactly enough to eat, for 40 years (Exodus 16:35) until they arrive in Canaan. God managed that. Like it was nothing.

Psalms 90 §

This psalm is one of Moses’ prayers. Yes, that guy who couldn’t speak well has a prayer so famous it’s in the Bible. Because God planned it that way. Because God is glorified that way.