Belief Required

*This writing is taken from Journey of Trust: A Walk of Faith by Sue L. Hamilton

When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Exodus 14:31 NLT

Scripture Reflection - This verse seems like a summation of the last several verses that detail what God had done for the Israelites. Let’s examine it to pull out nuggets of this profound story.

Look at the first word, when. It’s a common word that is typically overlooked; however, let’s be aware of the definition in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.

When = just at the moment.

And when is placed before the phrase, “the people saw.”

Saw is also a basic word we would not go and look up in the dictionary, but let’s do it.

Saw = to imply physically viewing with the eyes.

Now, let’s restate the first part this verse using the definitions of the words when and saw: Just at the moment the Israelites saw with their physical eyes the power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians. They were viewing what only God could have done by taking the water walls and dry ground they had walked across and now closing it back up to its usual place while all the Egyptians are encapsulated by the water and drowned. Being filled with awe before their Heavenly Father who had taken them through this journey to this point, the Israelites had to trust God. There was no denying it. God had to have done this. They had to put their faith in Him.  

Current Reflection - Imagine being a witness to this miracle; we’d be totally awestruck. It would be a jaw dropping moment that would make us speechless. We’d have no other choice but to believe and trust in God; there would be no question or doubt because we saw it with our own eyes.

Does the water have to part for us to keep our faith alive? Your answer may be, “Well yes, because then I would know, that I know it was God.” How big does the action of God need to be for us to have our faith and trust solidly built on God’s foundation of love? 

There seems to be more questions than answers. Do we have to physically see a miracle before we trust and believe in God? Let’s break it down and think about it. How would you classify a miracle in your life? It may be the word “miracle” that trips you because you believe it needs to be a grandiose incident that is a once-in-a-life-time event that occurred. This can easily happen because we hear others tell their miracle stories and begin to put parameters around what is classified as a miracle.

Let’s use the technique of defining a word that is common to us and see if it changes our established meaning of the word.

Miracle: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs, an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment.

These definitions sound like the lightning bolt, wowzah event moments, let’s keep them tucked away in our minds as we continue to review this scripture and how it applies to us. 

With the definitions laid out for us, we may or may not be able to say we’ve experienced a miracle. Even if we have experienced one that falls into the definition, does it make any difference in keeping our faith with God strong for the rest of our lives? Well, this is a question we’ll explore in a few upcoming sections. For now, maybe we should use the word “blessing” instead of “miracle.”

Blessing = a thing conducive to happiness or welfare.

Hmmm? It starts to get blurry when we put these words side-by-side because we can see that we may have had more miracles in our lives than we once had thought. Some of us use the word “miracle” while others would use the word “blessing” simultaneously.

Regardless of which word we use, let’s get back to this thought - large or small, miracle or blessing - miracles happen more then we think and God is the one making it happen - when we least expect it and we typically had nothing to do with it when they occur. Then we get that awestruck moment in knowing it was all God and it motivates us to keep moving forward to continue doing what He asks of us: pray, read the Word, be full of the fruit of the spirit, and so much more. 

God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and it builds our faith, and we believe. Be okay when God drops extraordinary events in your path, because it keeps us going so, we trust Him and know He has our best interest in mind - TRUST AND BELIEVE! 

Personal Reflection - I’ve witnessed two big miracles in my lifetime: one was the birth of our oldest son who was born seven weeks early and the second was me surviving a terrible motorcycle accident that I should not have walked away from. This story I refer to as the Motorcycle Miracle, both of those extraordinary events, miracles, are detailed in my memoir Carried by Faith: From Substance Abuse to a Life Filled with Miracles. Both incidents have changed me and how deep my faith and trust in God has been in my life. Both incidents happened at the beginning of my walk with God, and they were profound as I saw with my own eyes just as the Israelites did. I had to have faith and trust God.

Your Reflection

• Have you experienced a miracle as defined by Merriam-Webster: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs? Explain.
• Have you experienced a blessing as defined by Merriam-Webster: a thing conducive to happiness or welfare? Explain.
• How has your faith and trust in God grown and developed since these events happened in your life?

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