For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Psalm 95:3-5
Reading the above excerpt from the Psalter (and Morning Prayer), I am always left in wonder and awe at the power and might of God. Learning about the power of God and understanding that God has everything subject to His mercy gave me a deeper perspective whenever I declare “Almighty God” in prayer.
A particular place in Scripture where this becomes evident is God delivering the Israelites from Egypt. When reading the Exodus, I am left captivated and reassured – but I am also left with many questions.
For example, I wrestled with why God would be so relentless in ensuring that the Egyptians felt his power. In the Exodus, we read how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Plague after plague, we peel back the layers of this dance between Pharaoh and Moses. Finally, when all was said and done, the plague of losing the first-born of Egypt led to Pharaoh begrudgingly letting the Israelites go. I was always left wondering, however, why did God decide to take it to that extent?
We cannot understand the mind of God, as his ways are above our ways and his thoughts above our thoughts (Isa. 55:8). But the more I wrested with the Exodus, the more I realized that the Egyptians (and perhaps the Israelites) did not see Pharaoh as we do – they understood that Pharaoh was a god. Thus the Exodus narrative, a constant wrestling between Moses/Yahweh and Pharaoh, is also a wresting between two deities. The God of the Israelites decided to make himself especially known to his people and to the Egyptians in a powerful and awe-inspiring way. He literally defied natural order to prepare the hearts and minds of the Israelites for where he was leading them!
Realizing this, it has made more salient St. Peter’s message to cast our cares upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). Not only does God care for us and our cares, but he is the one who can also do something about them! This does not necessarily mean that God will remove those cares in the same manner he did for the people of Israel in Egypt. With full assurance in Christ, however, God will order our steps and saturate our journey with the Wisdom of his Holy Spirit. And He will bring us where he wants us to be.
God bless you!
Zacher
