Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things! (Psalm 72:18)
The very last statement John recorded in his gospel reveals that we don’t have a record of absolutely everything Yeshua did during His earthly ministry. According to John, “There are also many other things that Yeshua did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). Couple this with the fact that there is no way for any of us to imagine how much He did before He walked the earth nor how much He has done since. As David said, He alone performs wondrous works which are innumerable and difficult to comprehend.
Of course, there have been times in history when His Hand was quite obvious to those who served Him as well as those who did not. But I would recommend that there are so many more times that we don’t recognize, at least not right away. In other words, it’s easy to discern God’s Hand when the sea is split in two; but sometimes He works in way indiscernible until after the fact. To that end, Jewish commentators provide a parable that explores how and why God intervenes in our life in wonderful ways that we don’t immediately see as wondrous.
According to the parable, as two merchants were preparing to board a ship, a sharp thorn pierced the foot of one man, forcing him to miss the voyage. The man was extremely disappointed and considered the situation to be misfortunate. Soon however, he learned that the ship had been lost at sea with no survivors. Hearing the news, he realized that God had intervened in his life in a wondrous way, although it did not seem like it at the time.
The point is only the God of Israel acts in such a way; He alone does wonderful and beneficial things on behalf of His people. He not only splits the sea, but He allows events — sometimes painful — to preserve us and reset the trajectory of our life. Perhaps most wonderful is the fact that He alone can take a bad situation and make something good of it. And so as David wrote, we should all bless the Lord God of Israel for all things knowing He is working in our best interests and for the good of our family and friends.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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