today's meditation (Ps.114) Making the Journey

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word, and let it be the meditation of my heart...)

(Psalm 114:1-8) 

1   When Israel went forth from Egypt,
     The house of Jacob from a people of a foreign language,
2   Judah became His sanctuary;
     Israel, His dominion.

3   The sea looked and fled;
     The Jordan turned back.
4   The mountains skipped like rams,
     The hills, like lambs.
5   What ails you, sea, that you flee?
     Jordan, that you turn back?
6   Mountains, that you skip like rams?
     Hills, like lambs?

7   Tremble, earth, before the Lord,
     Before the God of Jacob,
8   Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
     The flint into a fountain of water.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

The events of God bringing Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land is like an allegory of salvation.  Right after the Passover lambs had been sacrificed, God's people were delivered from death and slavery.  Just so, Jesus was the perfect sacrificial Lamb.  For anyone who accepts His sacrificial gift of salvation, death will pass over us and we are no longer slaves to sin. 

At both the beginning and ending of the Israelites' journey, God parted the waters, first the Red Sea and then the Jordan River.  Both required a huge miracle that only God can do!  Just so, at the point of being saved, immediately we are baptized by the Holy Spirit!  We are "born again" into God's family and become a child of God - something only God can do!  And entering heaven will be like crossing the Jordan into the promised land - this is another miracle that only God can do.

Meanwhile, God is with us!  God did not leave the Israelites to wander the wilderness without direction, protection or sustenance but stayed with them the entire time and performed many miracles until they reached the promised land.  Just so, while we are here on earth, in whatever wilderness we find ourselves, God is right here with us to guide, protect and sustain us.