The Foolish

Exodus 14:3 ESV

For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.

Psalm 136:4,13 ESV

To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;

…to him who divided the sea the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;

It is a wonder of biblical proportions. The Red Sea divided in two. A wall of water on each side and an entire nation able to walk between followed by an entire army drowned. As Christians approach the miraculous what can be said? Either you believe in a God “who alone does great wonders” like raising the dead or you don’t. Considering the who this article is sent to and who is likely to read it. I will assume that all believe in his ability to raise the dead and therefor his ability to divide the sea. However, are we prepared to be foolish? To lean so heavily on him that we are required to watch him to great things?

There is no shortage of stories of foolish Christians dying because God chose not to walk in the furnace with them. For every Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego there are the thousands martyred in Rome, as spectacle for their entertainment or lights for an emperor’s garden. Yet, God was in both places and allowed or lead both groups into the furnace some he brought home some he returned to bear witness and sing songs of his steadfast love. George Mueller said “If we desire our faith to be strengthened we must not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.”

The Israelites camped right where they were told and it was foolish, if God did not do great wonders. Are we willing to let God put us in very foolish places that he might be given glory? Are we willing to stay there when it looks more and more foolish? The three men who refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue weren’t really foolish until they chose not to bow the second time. They double downed and went all-in. The Christians who refused to say Cesar is Lord weren’t foolish until they were accused and brought before the examiners and then remained steadfast. They may have looked stupid when they were burning as lights in Nero’s Garden yet they conquered an empire that none could conquer, by burning so brightly they conquered the darkness of that evil age.

What foolish thing is God calling you to double down on? To foolishly believe that Preaching his word will actually change lives by itself? That prayer in faith really can conquer the darkness. That his steadfast love really does endure forever, even in the hardest of times? Will you look foolish that you might sing of his love forever, in this age and the next? Will you stand were he has planted you and watch as the sea divides before you?

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO