the God of miracles.

When people ask me about the Bible, they always ask me how I feel about the Old Testament. I always think this is a really interesting question - how do I feel about the only part of the Bible that existed when Christ Himself walked the Earth? The scriptures that He would have memorized and quoted in the temple? The ones that His disciples would have asked Him about around the fire or the dinner table? I guess I like the Old Testament, just a little bit.

My church has been doing a 90 Day reading of the entire Bible (and I even created a version just for you here). Let me tell you, it’s a commitment. I am thankful for the challenge, and for the fact that I am spending the first part of my year reading about the birth of our faith. I have read these stories so many times. Growing up in church, I have seen them played out in skits and on felt boards and in innumerable sermons. My prayer this year was that God would show me something new about Himself - I want to know Him in a deeper way, and to understand His words better.

So I am going into this reading with new eyes. I am remembering that these are people like myself - living out stories every day, relying on faith, with fewer answers than I have today. I am reading the end product of their daily decisions. It’s easy to forget when reading the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they were regular, flawed people, too. They had no assurances other than the promises of a God so unlike the gods of the cultures they lived around.

I love reading Exodus. Genesis is probably my favorite book, but Exodus is a close second. The Israelites have grown exponentially in the land of Goshen. They are so large, in fact, that Pharaoh is threatened by their existence as a nation state so close to Egypt. He subjects them to slave labor, building the majestic pyramids we know so well. Moses, the son of an Israelite woman, was raised by an Egyptian royal, providing him with access and insight into the culture that would have been only rivaled by his predecessor, Joseph. When Moses fled after committing and covering up the murder of an Egyptian man, God found him in the desert and spoke to him through a burning bush. No big deal, right? God sends Moses back to Egypt to wager with Pharaoh for Israel’s freedom, along with his brother Aaron. After being subjected to a number of wild plagues (seriously, that is a story unto itself), Israel flees Egypt on Pharaoh’s orders - taking the gold and jewels of all their neighbors. During this escape, God parts the Red Sea and drowns the Egyptian army pursuing them to bring them back to captivity. (Egypt did not have a good time during the book of Exodus.) After all of this, God places a pillar of fire in the sky representing His presence during the night, and in the day, a pillar of clouds. There was never a moment when the nation of Israel had to doubt whether or not God was with them. They watched mountains shake, heard thunder roll and holy fire appear. God spoke to them, assured them that He was with them, and they were His chosen people.

And yet…

Time and time again, Israel chose to forget about the God who delivered them. They forgot a God who placed fire in the sky, manna on the ground and led them to pools of cool water. He did countless miracles, performed repeated and innumerable signs to remind them of His presence, and His love for them. Simply reminding them that out of all the nations, He chose them and called them good, and worthy to be redeemed. They built a golden calf while Moses was communing with God on the mountain. They complained bitterly about being led into the desert to die, when they could have had the comforts of Egypt - the place they cried out to God against and begged to be delivered from. I used to be frustrated with Israel, but honestly, Israel sounds a lot like me. Time and time again, God comes through for me. He has created provision where there was lack, He has put a roof over my head when so many go without. His blessings on my life are far too long to list - and yet, when one thing doesn’t go exactly how I would like it to go, in the time frame I would like it to happen, I am ready to walk away from all of it. I am ready to pull the earrings from my ears, the nose ring from my nose, and my many rings from my fingers and melt them down to make a golden calf. I am ready and willing to forget the times I have seen the God of the Universe shake the mountains with His presence, or bring me to tears at the sight of a canyon.

It’s easy to blame Israel. We flip to the New Testament and we know Jesus is bursting to life, ready to ransom us from the chains of sin. The truth is that we are Israel. We all have the propensity and the willingness to walk away from this life of faith when we are stranded in the desert. (Y’all, I have been to that desert they walked through, and I kind of get it. It’s a bit toasty.) Will you assess where you have been willing to walk away from Him? Will you be humble enough to repent and mark the times when you danced around the golden calf? We have all been there. We are human, and our flesh is weak. The best and most hopeful news of all is that God our Father knew this, and chose to send His Son as our redemption. He saw all the failures of Israel, and He did not walk away from His covenant - no, even better, He flung wide the gates to invite us all to sit at the table of redemption.

Every day, I am humbled by the grace and beauty of salvation. He could have only redeemed Israel. His covenant was with them, His chosen people. But we are freely grafted in, redeemed, ransomed, and made whole. Walk away from the idols, friend. Listen to the mountains shake, and let it create monuments of faith to look back on in the desert. Let the miracles be reminders of His faithfulness as your feet grow weary, and your heart loses hope. He is the sustainer. He is the miracle. He is the living water that will never run dry.

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Nicole Worm is the founder of Redeemed Collective, a recovering perfectionist and is committed to eventually seeing the Atlanta Falcons win a Super Bowl. Also, committed to being dog mom to Bear.