Exodus 13:17
God knew that the Israelites were doing a huge thing by leaving Egypt, and God didn't want them to change their minds and want to turn back, so God led them on a path so they wouldn't run into enemies and have to go to war.
Exodus 14:10-15
It's seems that even though God didn't want the Israelite people to have to face war, it was totally fine for them to be chased down by the Egyptians and then doubt the Lord. But maybe it made a bigger show of God's power in the beating of the Egyptians, whose power and oppression the Israelites understood all too well, than it would have made a show of beating the Philistines, whom the Israelites had no knowledge of.
Exodus 14:27
I always imagine a giant hand appearing in the sky, picking up the Egyptians, and back-handing them into the Red Sea. Makes me chuckle every time.
Exodus 15:8
"At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea." Gotta love that Old Testament poetry with all the imagery!!!
Exodus 16:17
Here, and other places as well, God addresses and answers the COMPLAINING of the Israelites, as opposed to the cries of the Israelites. They are whining and doubting and blaming instead of crying out to God for legitimate reasons.
Exodus 16:27-30
The first commandment that the Lord wants the Israelites to follow is to observe the Sabbath, to rest and worship the Lord through renewal and rest, to trust that God will provide even if they don't do what they normally have to do.
Exodus 17:11-13
Moses needed the help and support (literally) of his friends to accomplish what needed to be done. The Israelites would not have been successful in their war with the Amalekites if Hur and Aaron hadn't helped Moses.
Matthew 19:12
I wonder if when Jesus says that there are eunuchs who are made so by other people, (seemingly in reference to divorce), if he is talking about people who are so utterly broken, crushed, and destroyed by divorce that they can't even comprehend the possibility of loving or being in a relationship ever again.
Matthew 19:21-26
We cannot accomplish what we need to make ourselves perfect. It's not even that we can actually make ourselves perfect, because only God can do that. But what I think Jesus is saying is that it is easier for us to give up everything to follow Christ if we don't have many worldly possessions to give up in the first place. That is why is meant by the comparison of the rich man and the camel going through the eye of the needle.
Today's ponderings:
I was told once that Jesus talks more about divorce than about any other subject. He talks about when the law says it's okay, when it's not okay, what it does to people, and how God hates divorce. I believe that there are very legitimate reasons for this, ones that pretty much anyone can understand.
As a child of divorce, and someone who has seen more than one divorce amongst my friends, I know all too well the complete damage that is caused by a divorce. Families are torn apart. Parents, who once vowed to love each other through the good and the bad, snipe and scream at and harass each other. Children, whether by choice or by force, and made to pick sides, and are often used as pawns for the parents to hurt each other. All the people involved exhibit and/or observe hatred towards each other, as well as feelings of betrayal, anger, and abandonment. Children either learn that marriage and relationships are as easy to cast aside as signing a piece of paper, or they are so broken by the effects of the divorce that they themselves are never willing to enter into a relationship commitment because they don't want to have even the possibility of going through what their parents went through.
And if, by some miracle, the parents have a mostly calm and amicable divorce, (as I believe my parents had), there is never any healing for the disruption and destruction of the core family unit.
My brother, sister, and I came out on the other side of our parents' relationships having learned from them (luckily). We understand that when we make those marriage vows, that it is forever. My brother married a wonderful woman, whom I can see that he obviously loves every time that he talks about her or even looks at her. She is precious to him. My sister married an incredible man who loves her, and would do anything to make her happy.
I could not be happier for them, or more proud that they went through trials in their youth, and came out the other side with a good understanding of what a marriage should be. Something not to be entered into lightly, but with great thought as to the gravity and permanence of their decisions.
I still believe that in some situations, divorce and a separation of family is necessary, such as in the case of abuse. As much as God holds sacred the bond of marriage and love, I do not believe, for one second, that if there is abuse in a relationship that it is something to be tolerated. God loves us so much that Jesus was sent to earth to die for our sins, so I don't think that God tolerates abuse in relationships.
And, sadly, there are times when things happen that simply cannot be reconciled, whether it be actions that people have made, realizations that they come to, or events outside of the relationship. We are fragile beings, and if that intimate bond in a relationship is severed, sometimes there is no putting it back. It is a hard situation, one that it takes more time to heal than most people realize, but sometimes that is the way it is.
Yet even after all of that, and still holding on to the belief that marriage and relationships are important, I pray that those who are considering divorce, and those who have been so marred by divorce that they themselves are almost unrecognizable, are given comfort and answers in the loving, forgiving, and accepting arms of Jesus Christ, who at times seems to be our one and only solace. May we all look to the teachings of Christ for the guidance to know God and live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.
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