TDA 

Garth Heckman

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What do all these things have in common? 

Blood, frogs, boils, darkness, flies, hail, death…. And goodness… thats right goodness… no not I for goodness sakes…. Or MY GOODNESS… -NOPE JUST SIMPLY -goodness

God wants the children of Israel… meaning the nation of Israel to be free from Egypt’s bondage. So he sends Moses. Big M meets up with Pharaoh and has a throw down… God shows up by plaguing the nation of Egypt 3 ways… fast, deadly and repeatedly. And Israel gets a front row seat to the festivities… they see it all go down in real time. And wa-la Israel is free… we out’a here. They run into the red sea and God splits it like a cheap pair of pants and they are on their merry way. 

The Israelites constantly complained (Exodus 16:2–4), believing the lie that bondage in Egypt - SLAVERY was better than freedom in the desert. They didn’t believe God when he promised that he would give them the Promised Land, so they refused to fight for Canaan (Deuteronomy 1:19–45). Though a few believed the Lord and feared his name, it is clear in Scripture that much of Israel did not fear him — though they saw everything he had done for them… You don’t fear a God of Blood, frogs, boils, darkness, flies, hail, death- Hello, am I missing something? What was it that they did not believe about God?

C.S. Lewis answers this in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver tells Susan that Aslan (the ruler of Narnia) is a great lion. Susan is surprised, since she assumed Aslan was a man. She then tells Mr. Beaver, “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” She asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is safe, to which Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”

The Israelites were intimately acquainted with the concept of God not being safe, but they didn’t believe he was good. The root of their unbelief (and our unbelief) is a lack of trust in God’s goodness not in his power, or his rule or authority - you just simply fail to know that he is good. What does scripture say “taste and see that the Lord is good” PS. 34:8

That word taste means to eat it all up… devour everything about God, do what he says, believe what he says, trust what he says, act on what he says… no matter what - and you will see that the Lord is good. And when he is good… you can serve him wholeheartedly- and why? Because when you know he is good… its all good.