How do you celebrate? Do you throw a big party? Do you jump for joy? Do you smile, laugh, feel joy beyond understanding? How would you celebrate if you were rescued? What if you were stranded for a very long time? Would you celebrate in a very different way?
Celebrations can be a lot of fun. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and achievements. If we were stranded and somebody rescues, we celebrate differently. Our joy is combined with relief. We may thank the person profusely. We may want to repay them in some way.
The Israelites sang a song to God to celebrate what God had done for them. The praised him for rescuing them. They acknowledged all that God had done to take them out of slavery. They saw his power. They recognized that he had saved them. They sang to the one who had destroyed their oppressors and performed miracles.
We can learn from their joy and desire to praise God. After all, God has rescued us, too. Through his Son, Jesus, we have been rescued from sin and death. We have been pulled from the fire of eternal punishment. We have been given an eternal life with God. Our rescue is far greater than the rescue of the Israelites. We have much more to be thankful for and to praise God for.
I pray we all choose to celebrate God. I pray we recognize what God has saved us from. I pray each one of us will praise God for being our Savior and for the gift of eternal life spent with him. Celebrate God. Know that God saved you. Praise God. Praise your Savior. Look forward to eternal life spent with God.
Exodus 15:1-2
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him;
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
Marty Pressey 