A theme emerges as the children of Israel move en masse out of Egypt on their trek to the promised land. God shows up time and again to pull their fat out of the fire, and the people complain.

Not about the miracles of course, but about the circumstances leading to the miracles. Only a few days after walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, then dancing in joy over their salvation from the Egyptian army, these folks got thirsty and grumbled against Moses—What are we to drink?

I get it. I like to grumble. Literally as I typed this the sun came up, shone through the window into my eyes and forced me to get up—grumbling—to pull my shade down. This while the temperature outside is -8°. I need and want the sun, but not in my eyes at this moment. Complaining is part of our nature—miracles are not.

Which is perhaps why we experience plenty of complaints and never any miracles. Sure, we call a brilliant victory by an underdog team a miracle, or money arrives just before the bills are due and we rejoice, but I’m wondering—when did you last see a pillar of fire?

Perhaps they exist, but grumbling clouds my vision. I hope to be a person who walks between walls of water and marvels, rather than miss it all because I’m complaining about sand in my shoes.

I believe I’ll go raise my shade.

Exodus 15 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Silas Baisch

As shadows set in, an ominous presence worked its way across the land. Called only the destroyer by Moses, this angel of death took the life of every firstborn in Egypt.

What exists in the spiritual realms that we know nothing of?

From this story of darkness, I flipped to Ephesians where I read Paul’s words: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions—it is by grace that you have been saved.

What have I been saved from? Saved from death—saved from the destroyer.

The Lord provided shelter from the destroyer, a way of salvation, for the Israelites and Egyptians who followed him. The Lord made a way for you and me to avoid the destroyer as well.

Both involve a lamb, blood spilled, and the bottomless grace of God.

Exodus 12 & Ephesians 2 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Abhishek Koli

The 10 plagues that Moses and Aaron and the Lord rained down on Egypt send me squirming in my devotional. All seem terrible, but some seem worse. Which ones do you consider the most awful?

Let’s remove the plague on the firstborn from our list. No house without someone dead lies beyond my imagination. But what about the other nine?

Waters turning into blood

Frogs

Gnats

Flies

Sudden sickness and death to livestock in the fields

Boils

Hail

Locusts

Darkness

Personally, frogs top my list. Boils also sound horrible, but frogs hopping in my oven, frogs sliming my bed, an amphibian peeking from my breakfast cereal? Then all those frogs die in my house and I have to find them and clean them out? Totally gross.

The Lord spared no creativity in reminding Pharaoh and Egypt and the Israelites and the nations around them who controls nature—and their fates.

Good for me to remember next time I see a frog.

Exodus 7-10 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by David Clode

Moses stood before the Lord, trembling at his assignment—confront the most powerful man in the world and tell him to let all his slaves go free. Moses asked a simple question. What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, “The Lord did not appear to you?”

Then the Lord asked Moses a question. What is that in your hand?

Moses showed the Lord his staff, which the Lord turned into a snake and freaked Moses out. Then the Lord reversed the snake back into a staff when Moses inched forward and grabbed it by the tail.

The Lord showed Moses a few other tricks. God could have gone on all day playing party games of miracles with Moses, but God had plans and needed Moses to understand them.

I join Moses in freaking out when I think about what was going on. The Lord sent Moses into the battle of his life with only a stick in his hands.

The point, of course, is not the stick, but the Lord who manipulates the stick. The Lord can use whatever he wants to meet whatever need I have. He’s the Lord of all creation. Whatever I hold today, God can multiply it tomorrow.

How did Moses respond? He shouldered his stick and headed to Egypt—with clear eyes and newfound confidence in the God behind that stick.

Exodus 4 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Vismay Krishna