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Acts 8
Humans seem to have a need to idolize something….or someone. It says in Acts 8:11 regarding Simon the sorcerer, “They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery”. The man performed neat tricks and boasted in himself. And so people followed him. Why? Even Simon himself, though he believed Philip’s message, followed Philip around because he was “astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw” (Acts 8:13b). I’m sure that a lot of the people who followed Jesus were following for the same reason. And there is no doubt that people today still flock around anyone who amazes them.
I have no idea what kind of “tricks” Simon did with his sorcery. Were they life changing? I can’t see that the healings Jesus was working through Philip would have amazed Simon so much if he was doing similar things. Whatever the case, following someone around – idolizing them, really – because they amaze you with signs and wonders or even simply talents seems very shallow and superficial to me. What happens when the neat tricks stop? Even if someone changed your life with some kind of physical healing, what happens next? Life is still hard. We still face very unpleasant challenges.
I think this is why Jesus told His followers in the gospels that if they wanted to follow Him, they had to deny themselves and take up their cross. Life with Jesus isn’t all just fun and games. He doesn’t just snap his fingers and meet our every need. What He does for us goes much, much deeper than that. If we show up for the superficial stuff, from mere humans or even from God Himself, we will eventually be disappointed. But if we genuinely open our hearts to God and understand the true miracle He works in us, then we will continue to be amazed by all His wondrous deeds, even when they aren’t obvious to the outside world.
Ex. 13-14
Why do you think it was important to commemorate what God had done? What would your reaction be if you were surrounded by desert, a sea and an enemy army? Where do you need God to fight for you today? Our trust is so fleeting. The Israelites had just seen what God had done, each time according to His prior word, to the Egyptians with the ten plagues. And they had seen how God, again per His word, had miraculously spared them from many of those plagues. But as soon as they found themselves in a precarious spot, their trust failed. It failed even in spite of the physical evidence of God’s presence right there with them!
The Israelites, like Simon the sorcerer and his Samaritan followers, had missed the point. They saw the signs and wonders God performed and they were no doubt amazed and likely grateful for them. But they never looked deeper. They never actually grasped what was really going on. God was even making it as easy as He could for them! He took them to the Red Sea instead of through the Philistine country so that they would not have to fight but only be still. And He told them ahead of time that He would save them from the Egyptian army.
God didn’t show us all of this so that we could point fingers at the Israelites and cast judgments on them. He did it to show us how weak we are, because our tendencies are the same as theirs. We are all equally human. And He did it to show us that He is fully trustworthy. He is good for His word. When we are able to see past the ‘shock and awe’ moments and put our trust not in God’s mighty works but in God Himself, it is then that He will fill us with His mysterious peace even in the most trying of circumstances. You see, it is not about what God can do for us. It is always about who God is.