Pam Padgett - teacher
Psalm 106:2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can shew forth all his praise?
Wherever we are and whatever we do, we often see or are reminded of mighty works of God, filling us with wonder, awe, and praise toward God.
A few days ago I noticed trees and bushes bringing forth buds. These trees and bushes have looked dead throughout the long cold winter here, but now small buds are showing they are still alive. Seeing this reminded me of God and how wonderfully and perfectly He created each thing.
Recently I was thinking about some of the mighty acts God did in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and caring for them. These are wonderful to think about:
- God did various signs and wonders in Egypt before Pharaoh to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt by great judgments. Aaron's bud became a serpent and swallowed up the rods of Pharaoh's magicians, rivers were turned to blood, the land was covered with frogs, dust of the land became lice, swarms of flies invaded the land, there were boils on man and beast, severe hail and thunder brought much destruction, locusts darkened the land, 3 days of thick darkness came on the Egyptians (darkness so thick it could be felt), but there was light in the houses of Israel. (Exodus 7-10)
- God killed the first born of the Egyptians but provided a way ... the passover ... for the children of Israel to be spared.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. (Exodus 12:21-24)
- God led the children of of Israel forward in a way they could see by day and night ... a pillar of a cloud by day and of fire by night.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22)
- God parted the Red Sea so the children of Israel walked across on dry
land with the water as walls on both sides. Amazing! But when the Egyptians tried to
cross in the same way, the waters closed around them and they were all
drowned.
Exodus 12:13-31 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to
day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again
no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your
peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me?
speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou
up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and
the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the
sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they
shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all
his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians
shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon
Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
And the angel of God, which went before the camp of
Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went
from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the
camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and
darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one
came not near the other all the night.
And Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east
wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were
divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon
the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right
hand, and on their left.
And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the
midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his
horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked
unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the
cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their
chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians
said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for
them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out
thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the
Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses
stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his
strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it;
and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the
waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the
host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not
so much as one of them.
But the children of Israel walked upon dry land
in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their
right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out
of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the
sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the
Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and
his servant Moses.
- God fed all of the children of Israel, 600,000 men plus women and
children, as they journeyed through the wilderness. Manna was on the
earth ready to be gathered in the morning and there was plenty for all to eat. (Exodus 16)
Only God has the power, mercy, wisdom, and judgment to do these works.
I also recalled mighty works God has done in my life. One thing after another I was reminded of what God has done, such as:
- God spoke HIS word to me by the Holy Spirit causing me to be born again, and gave me the Holy Spirit living in me. I
became a new creature, completely changed, desiring to please God and turning from the ways I
had been going.
- God taught me to prove by the Bible doctrines I had been taught in the
Catholic church since childhood. I had thought that everything I had been taught was true. But being led by the Holy Spirit to prove doctrines I had learned, I was given truth to replace
incorrect doctrines. And I was led to leave the Catholic
church.
- When I was in college, my sister arranged a blind date for me with a
fraternity guy. We were to go to an outdoor fraternity luau party. I looked forward
to this until I learned that my date would be spending the day building a
hut "for us". This opened my eyes to the lewd things that would be
going on at this event. I told my sister I couldn't
go, but she insisted it was too late to cancel this blind date. I
turned strongly to God asking Him to somehow help me.
On the day of
the luau it started raining in the morning. By early that afternoon it
was raining pretty hard. Soon I learned that the luau had been canceled.
It had rained so much that the luau site had been flooded, and the huts
had been washed away! God had delivered me with the flooding rain.
- God comforted me and showed me truth about the matter when I became an outcast from a church singles group but I didn't know why. A woman came to me saying she had a message
from God for me. The message was that God knew how I was being treated
by those in the singles group and that I needed to know it was because I
had done God's will in warning against the marriage of a divorced woman in the group to a
man in the group.
(I had
warned this man and divorced woman, as well as the woman who planned to
be the maid of honor at the wedding, that this couple would commit adultery by
marrying, as Jesus taught ... It hath been said, Whosoever shall
put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I
(Jesus) say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for
the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever
shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Matt. 5:31-32)
- God continually helps me with daily decisions and problems, such as calming me and guiding me when I needed to quickly get a backup
computer last week.
These are just a few of the many things God has done in my life.
And God works mightily in the lives of each of HIS children.
Psalm 106:1 Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.