"The Brighter Side of Life"

"Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power be known."
(Psalms 106:8)

 This is how Matthew Henry puts this into perspective: that though the great wonders God had performed and His mercy that He showed them were still fresh upon their minds, they imagined that God had brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness. The sea before them, the armies of Egypt behind them, they assumed the worst and began wishing they had been left back in Egypt. These are the thoughts and actions of those that doubt God's great love and care for them. Egypt had many things to offer and there were a lot of those things that went against their traditions and customs as a people led by God. You can only imagine that many of them might have felt as though God was judging them for following the ways of Egypt, a sort of spiritual cleansing; they had no idea! I like the way this starts, "Nevertheless," as if, despite there provocations, God will still show mercy! Did they ask for it? No, they only complained about their situation; but nonetheless, God opened His arms and embraced them as His own. That is what I saw the day I was saved, God opening His arms wide, to embrace me as His own. Even though I had denied Him, refused to accept Him, and had mocked all those that called upon His name; Jesus was nailed to that cross with His arms opened wide to receive me unto Himself. Talk about the mighty power of God, there is nothing mightier than that! In His death, Jesus did more for all of mankind, than all of mankind could ever do for themselves, being alive. Sure, parting the Red Sea was pretty neat; I can only imagine the look on the faces of all of God's people, let alone the faces of the Egyptian army that followed them. But Jesus spread His arms, not to part anything, save the veil; He spread His arms to bridge the gap between man and God...

"While we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:6-11)