MAYBE WE SHOULD CELEBRATE MORE?

I recently wrote a blog about Israel’s deliverance through the Red Sea and how God closed the water over the Egyptian army so that not one of them escaped!  If you haven’t read it – you should check it out!

The very next chapter [Exodus 15] is the response of the Israelites.  It begins:

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to GOD, giving voice together…  [v.1]

I have immediate questions about this.  How did they all sing together?  I mean, they didn’t have a copier there and distribute song-sheets! 

This was a large, multi-generational crowd of inter-related people!  They had just witnessed a phenomenal miracle that was clearly a God-intervention.  On the other side of the Red Sea – before this intervention – they had feared for their lives!  At the worst, they thought the Egyptian army would kill them all.  At the best, they would be returned to slavery in Egypt! 

But now they were free!  AND GOD DID IT!  And they were grateful! 

It was their natural response to sing and dance!  But how could they all sing together without knowing the words to the song? 

Perhaps it was done in an antiphonal fashion where Moses or Aaron [or some other gifted leader] sang out a line – and then everyone repeated it?  Perhaps this line was repeated over and over until even the people in the back of the crowd got it?  Just a thought. 

However it happened, it was a joyful celebration of God’s deliverance!  You’re welcome to read it, but here are the first few lines:

I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
    He pitched horse and rider into the sea.
God is my strength, God is my song,
    and, yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have
    and I’m telling the world!  [vs.1-2]

Then, Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing.  Miriam led them in singing,

Sing to God – what a victory!

He pitched horse and rider into the sea!   [vs.20-21]

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I’ve been a part of joyous celebrations plenty of times, although nothing that would compare to what I’ve just described!  I wish we had audio/video of that! 

Recently, our Bethel congregation celebrated their first worship experience in the brand new sanctuary.  It took MUCH longer to build than was originally anticipated, so it was a greatly anticipated event.  The sanctuary was full!  The worship experience was jubilant.  And as a result the church is growing…

I guess the greater the sense of God-intervention, the greater the celebration! 

How do we get God-interventions? 

PRAYER! 

SEEKING HIS PRESENCE!

SEARCHING HIS WORD!

God acts in response to our appeals! 

In our land [the United States of America], if we want restored security, unity, bounty, spiritual renewal, then we should do more than vote.  We should call on God for His divine intervention and do so fervently! 

Maybe then, we’d have cause to sing and dance in the streets as well as our sanctuaries.