“And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.”
Exodus 13:8-10 NKJV
I can never remember a time in my life when I did not believe in miracles. And, there is a good reason for that.
As I was growing up, I remember hearing the wonderful stories told by my mother and father about the great miracles the Lord had done in their lives.
I remember my mother talking about a time when her little sister (probably under four years old at the time) was very sick and dying. Understand, giving her any sort of medicine was not an option for my grandparents. You see, the church in which my grandfather was serving as a pastor, did not believe in taking any sort of medicine. So, to protect my grandfather and grandmother, a local physician came to examine their very sick little girl. He told them that her condition was dire and left saying he would check back in the morning. My grandfather went outside their little home and presented an urgent plea to the Lord, begging for His mercy.
Well, the next morning when the physician came by (expecting the worst), he found my mother‘s little sister sitting up and eating heartily. She actually sang him a little song. He confessed he had expected to find that she was gone.
Understand, this is not a commentary on the use of medication. The point is, they were doing what they felt was right from their heart and the Lord had mercy on their little girl.
Actually, this being over 90 years ago, there would have been little that medicine could’ve done about her condition. They needed a miracle and they got one.
Also—along with all the other stories my mother would tell—on everyone of my birthdays, she would recount how the Lord had worked a miracle to save my life when I was born. She would go through great detail in the telling; so much so, that I was self-conscious that other people listening may not be quite as interested as I was in hearing the story retold.
I can’t even remember all of the wonderful stories my father used to tell; but I will share one he often retold (with relish) from his childhood.
My paternal grandfather worked hard for a living, basically being a junkman. Well, he lifted something he shouldn’t have tried to lift (he had an incredible God-given level of strength), severely injuring his back. He could not even stand up straight and looked like a “horseshoe.”
My father recounted how my grandfather called the children together into the dining room and explained the situation. He told them that if he couldn’t work, they wouldn’t have anything to eat and would lose everything (this was during the Great Depression). He asked them to join together in prayer for him.
My father told how—as they were praying—my grandfather jumped high up off the floor and came down standing straight. He was instantly, totally healed!
The stories are many and amazing:
The hard as a football, cirrhosis-ravaged liver of a former alcoholic woman, was supernaturally replaced with a liver that looked like that of a young girl (the physician’s words).
A man, already dead in the morgue was brought back to life.
A very obese man with a gallbladder distended with stones, was found to have had the organ removed by what looked like a laser (again, the physician’s words and this was over sixty years ago).
Severely “clubbed” feet were miraculously straightened, such that the leg braces being worn by the young girl (so that she could hobble around), suddenly became very painful because her legs and feet were perfectly straight.
I could continue on. However, my point is that having heard all of these wonderful accounts, I never doubted that God works in miraculous ways. And with that, it also made the miracles told in the Bible very believable.
Because of God‘s faithfulness and mercy, I now have many stories of my own that bring glory to His name.
Sadly, I know people for whom the Lord has done great and mighty things, yet they seem to have forgotten what the Lord has done; they certainly never recount the goodness of the Lord. As a matter of fact, their mouths are filled with complaints. What a tragedy for them and for their family!
Throughout the word of God we find references to the importance of teaching the next generation about the miracles we have seen and known.
“We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old: You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them.”
Psalms 44:1-3 NKJV
“We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments;”
Psalms 78:4, 7 NKJV
These two passages from Psalms are just a couple of examples of an edict often repeated throughout the Scriptures.
Today we find Moses hearing the Lord’s explanation for why the Feast of Unleavened Bread must be faithfully observed. The Lord explains that it will be an ongoing reminder of the greatness and faithfulness of the Lord.
You see, hearing accounts of God‘s faithfulness and goodness, as well as helping the hearer believe in the miraculous, also serves to build faith and trust in the Lord.
Sadly, all some children hear is their parents complaining about their circumstances, never giving any glory to God.
I thank God that I had parents—as well as grandparents—who never let us forget what God has done. I pray I have done the same for my sons.
Remember, long after you are gone, the wonderful stories of God‘s faithfulness will be told and retold, bringing glory to the name of the Lord.
And please know, we are not just talking about sharing stories of reconstructive miracles, etc.; we’re also talking about sharing the times the Lord has brought us through great sorrow or great struggle, as well as sharing the wonderful things He has done for all of us like salvation and the fact that He has invited us to be a part of His everlasting Kingdom!
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
We must make sure that we—and our children—never forget the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Mar 26
- 4 min read
“Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”
Exodus 12:35-36 NKJV
My mother and father birthed a church when I was not yet seven years old. We started in a small storefront building on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. The thing is, after only being there a short time, the owner of the storefront said we had to go.
The backstory is that a liquor store wanted to move into that area and there was an ordinance requiring a certain distance between a liquor store and a church. Apparently, the liquor store had made our landlord “an offer he couldn’t refuse,” to evict us. So, my father didn’t know what he was going to do; but as always, he took it to the Lord in prayer.
Here, I’ll make a long story short:
A competing liquor store chain made it financially possible for us to move just across the street to a larger storefront building with a better orientation toward the street and much better access to parking.
Bear in mind, this offer came without any action on the part of my parents. But obviously, this other liquor store had found out what was going on. Their reason for making our relocation possible was apparently to keep the competing establishment from placing a store in that area. But God used their motivation to enable my parents to have an even better place for their little church.
Now, some may wonder whether it was right to take money from the owner of a liquor store. Well, there was nothing illegal about the transaction and there were no strings attached to it. It was God’s way of providing for our little church to survive.
On that day, the liquor store owner, a possible enemy in purpose, served to help our church survive.
Here’s another story:
When I was in college I had a professor who I thought didn’t like me very much. [Being a person who generally assumes that I will be liked, I’m pretty sure I was correct in my estimation.]
This professor had a stern demeanor and seemed to cater to the more “traditional” students: those coming from wealthy homes, higher society sorts who had alumni family members. I was there on a scholarship.
Although I did very well in her classes, she never really made overtures to me as she did to some of the other young women. So, I dreaded interactions with her.
In my third year of college I developed a bad case of mononucleosis. The lack of sleep and sporadic eating caught up with my immune system. I didn’t really miss many of my classes, but was suffering, to say the least.
Within this period of time there was an important paper due in one of my classes and there was a deadline for getting it to the office designated to receive it. I had worked all night and finished the paper in just enough time to get it in on time.
Now, my mother was driving me to the college to turn the paper in, when we got caught in traffic waiting on a train! So, arriving, I ran to the office to turn in the paper, only to have it refused, as I was about five minutes late. I stood there dismayed for a moment, then turned around from the person who had rejected the paper, bursting into tears as I exited the building. I was desperate, feeling that I had no recourse.
Suddenly, I see the previously mentioned professor coming rapidly toward me, asking what was going on. Sobbing, I explained the situation (I must have looked like the hind wheels of destruction).
Well, don’t you know, she marched her stern self to the office where the paper was to be turned in and gave them several pieces of her mind, asking if they were trying to “kill me” (I had explained to her about the mononucleosis). Needless to say, they took the paper and found it in good order.
No matter how she had felt about me before, on that day, I found favor in her sight. And she blessed me.
In our opening scripture we find a little backstory pertaining to the exiting of Egypt.
You see, the Lord had formerly instructed Moses to tell the people to ask the Egyptians to give them gold, silver, clothes and so on. Amazingly, as the Hebrews exited Egypt, they did so with great amounts of wealth and supply from the Egyptians, because “the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested.”
You may not realize that this was something promised to Abraham hundreds of years before!
“Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.””
Genesis 15:13-14 NKJV
Sure enough, the people were not only allowed to leave their situation of bondage, but did so with plunder from their oppressors. That day, the Egyptian’s—though currently enemies to the people of God—blessed them.
Now, in looking for signs that our promise from the Lord is approaching, we may become dismayed because we just can’t see how it is even possible. But make no mistake, when the Lord has made a promise, and those to whom He has promised have remained faithful, He will bring the promise to pass, even if it requires a blessing from an enemy.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The Lord can even use our enemies to bless us.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Mar 25
- 5 min read
“And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.”
Exodus 12:33-34, 39 NKJV
Let’s begin today with a consideration of two bread stories.
First I want tell you a story from my father’s childhood. You see, his parents were immigrants from Armenia, so his mother was a genuine Armenian cook. As a matter of fact, she (believe it or not) was the one who brought yogurt to America. She made yogurt for her family and would also sell it to others (they lived in the Los Angeles area). The people who bought her yogurt had never eaten such a thing, but they liked it. She was also a maker of Armenian flatbread (lavash). She would take some of these large flat loaves of bread, cooked in her in-the-ground bread oven my grandfather had fashioned for her, and roll them in damp towels for the purpose of sandwich making. She sent her sons and daughter to school each day with a homemade bag lunch consisting of a rolled sandwich. And, from what my father described, she probably put whatever leftovers she had on hand and rolled it all up in the bread for their wonderful lunch.
But you see, there was a problem. In that day and time different ethnicities weren’t as celebrated as they are today. And, among children and young people, there has always been the desire to fit in. Therefore, my father, having this odd looking sandwich, would go off by himself to eat his lunch to avoid ridicule.
When I think of that story I can imagine his large chubby hands holding that wonderful sandwich. He was so very hungry, but desperately trying to avoid being mocked.
So that was my story about flatbread.
Now I’m going to tell you another story, this, about yeast bread.
I can still remember how wonderful some parts of school lunches would smell while being prepared. Fried chicken cooking always smelled . . . well, I don’t have to tell you how good that smelled. Oh, and the baking pizza (on Fridays), was also a wonderful aroma. However, when I think of the smell of school lunches, what first comes to my mind is how awesome the yeast rolls (made fresh almost daily) would smell while they were baking.
Now, as a little background, you need to understand that in elementary school I basically ate lunch every day. I was hungry and I ate. But, when I went to high school (our high school was 8th through 12th grade), I became self-conscious about eating at school, as I was chubby. So, rather than being self-conscious about eating (isn’t it horrible the things we do to ourselves?), I didn’t eat lunch basically through most of my high school years.
Now back to those yeast rolls.
The yeast rolls would start cooking around 10 o’clock; and the smell of those big fluffy rolls would waft through the halls of my small high school. I would smell those yeast rolls, knowing I wasn’t going to eat them. It was a sort of torture.
By the way, yeast is an interesting ingredient. As you may be aware, yeast is a single-celled fungus. It can take a small mixture of bread ingredients and turn it into a large wonderful loaf (or those yeast rolls!).
Interestingly, Jesus employed yeast as a metaphor to represent both a good influence and a bad influence.
Jesus, in speaking of the teaching of the religious leaders, used yeast as a metaphor for a corrupting influence.
“Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Matthew 16:6-7, 12 NKJV
However, the Lord also used the metaphor of leaven to reference how the Kingdom of God works.
“Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.””
Matthew 13:33 NKJV
The apostle Paul used yeast to represent evil attitudes in believers.
“Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
I Corinthians 5:6-8 NKJV
Today we find Moses, along with the children of Israel, exiting Egypt. Leaving hastily, they were basically unprepared for the journey before them.
You see, the Egyptians had become terrified of the Hebrews, associating them with the terrible plagues which they had just endured. Therefore, the Egyptians urged them to get out quickly lest they (the Egyptians) suffer more loss. Due to this fact—and due to the fact that bread was most likely cooked fresh daily—they were caught in a situation where their bread would not have time for the yeast to rise before cooking it. So, the people took their unleavened dough and hit the road.
We also see that, being hungry, they stopped not long after exiting Egypt to bake the unleavened bread. This experience became memorialized in the Feast of Unleavened Bread instituted by the Lord with the purpose of reminding the people—and future generations—of what the Lord had done in suddenly bringing them out of a 430 year bondage.
Sometimes, we get very impatient waiting for the fulfillment of a promise the Lord has given. But generally, when He does move, it’s “suddenly.” In those times, you may have really had your mouth set for that fluffy yeast roll. But, when the Lord is behind the process, make no mistake, you will be satisfied with His flatbread.
So, we are ending with our own metaphor in which the yeast represents our own desires and/or plans. Let’s leave all that behind and eat the Lord’s wonderful rolled sandwich!
“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.”
Romans 1:16 NLT
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
God’s bread doesn’t need our yeast.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!