Skipping Over the Good Stuff

Scripture: Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them:
Sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted;
he has thrown the horse
and its rider into the sea.
Exodus 15:20-21

Observation: After crossing the Red Sea and the defeat of the Egyptians, the Israelites sing a long song. Here, the first stanza is repeated to introduce how the song was sang. We learn Miriam led them all in the song, playing the tambourine.

In fact, the actual description is brief yet quite grand. If "all" the women came out singing and dancing and playing, that could be hundreds of thousands of dancing, singing, festive women. Conservatively, if it were just the women of - say - 17 to 50, it could be in the 300,000 range easily. This could be quite an amazing scene! It would rival the largest of any modern-day festival ... thinking Carnival, or Mardi Gras, or a Super Bowl parade. And everyone is adorned spectacularly, having escaped with the spoils of Egypt (grand clothes and gold jewelry everywhere!).

Imagine this! In the desert, a collection of women 4-5 times larger than can fit into a modern football stadium - and all the others, doubling this size - all singing and dancing, waiving around clattering cymbals and light drums, in full-on celebration mode, all while standing on the desolate, isolated shore of an unpopulated part of an ocean.

Application: There are parts of the bible that are one sentence long, so we pass over them quickly when we read them, and thus we miss their full scope. We just had chapters about the crossing of the Red Sea, and are about to have chapters of initial life in the wilderness where Israel grumbles often. It is easy to shake our heads and wonder how they could all be so thick about what the Lord has done for them. However, they weren't really ... in between, they had a celebration so amazing and spectacular that it compares to the largest modern-day events we can even imagine.

Many of us, including myself, miss these things in the bible. We miss key words and sentences that have huge implications or describe major activities. I can therefore be quick to study the lessons about grumbling against God and failing to acknowledge his blessings in my life, while skipping over the lessons of ... showing how to actually acknowledge those blessing with celebration and worship.

The result is that, when I get low and grumble about life, I then chide myself for being like Israel ... however, when blessing come, I don't know how to really be like Israel by celebrating like crazy with dancing and singing. I skip the good stuff - some of the best stuff - in the bible. May I continue to try to find these special nuggets of truth in the word of God.

Prayer: Lord, your word is wonderful, and it is so rich with information, wisdom, and instruction. May I truly learn anew every day from your word, finding truth about how to honor you more and more. Amen.