In these verses we see how in ancient times, when the Lord fought for Israel against the cruel Pharaoh, it was stormy winds that won their deliverance. And again later, in the greatest display of His power, God struck the final blow to the proud defiance of Egypt with stormy winds. Yet at first it seemed that a strange and almost cruel thing was happening to Israel. They were hemmed in by a multitude of dangers: in front, a raging sea defied them; on either side, mountains cut off any hope of escape; and above them, a hurricane seemed to blow. It was as if the first deliverance had come only to hand them over to a more certain death. “The Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD” (Exodus 14:10).

Only when it seemed they were trapped for the enemy did the glorious triumph come. The stormy wind blew forward, beating back the waves. The vast multitude of Israelites marched ahead along the path of the deep sea floor—a path covered with God’s protecting love. On either side were crystal walls of water, glowing in the light of the glory of the Lord, and high above them roared the thunder of the storm. And so it continued on through the night, until at dawn the next day, as the last of the Israelites set foot on shore, the work of the stormy wind was done.

Then Israel sang a song to the Lord of how the stormy wind fulfilled His word: “The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils. . . .’ But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters” (Exodus 15:9–10).

Someday, through His great mercy, we too will stand on “a sea of glass,” holding “harps given [to us] by God.” Then we will sing “the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: ‘Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations’” (Revelation 15:2–3). Then we will know how the stormy winds have won our deliverance.

Today only questions surround your great sorrow, but then you will see how the threatening enemy was actually swept away during your stormy night of fear and grief.

Today you see only your loss, but then you will see how God used it to break the evil chains that had begun to restrain you.

Today you cower at the howling wind and the roaring thunder, but then you will see how they beat back the waves of destruction and opened your way to the peaceful Land of Promise. MARK GUY PEARSE

Though winds are wild, And the gale unleashed, My trusting heart still sings: I know that they mean No harm to me, He rides upon their wings.

The following story was related by Mrs. Charles H. Spurgeon, who suffered greatly with poor health for more than twenty-five years: “At the end of a dull and dreary day, I lay resting on my couch as the night grew darker. Although my room was bright and cozy, some of the darkness outside seemed to have entered my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. In vain I tried to see the sovereign hand that I knew held mine and that guided my fog-surrounded feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering.

“With a sorrowful heart I asked, ‘Why does the Lord deal with a child of His in this way? Why does He so often send such sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He allow this lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?’

“These impatient questions were quickly answered through a very strange language. Yet no interpreter was needed except the mindful whisper of my heart. For a while silence reigned in the little room, being broken only by the crackling of an oak log burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a sweet, soft sound: a faint, yet clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a robin beneath my window.

“I asked aloud, ‘What can that be? Surely no bird can be singing outside at this time of year or night.’ But again came the faint, mournful notes, so sweet and melodious, yet mysterious enough to cause us to wonder. Then my friend exclaimed, ‘It’s coming from the log on the fire!’ The fire was unshackling the imprisoned music from deep within the old oak’s heart!

“Perhaps the oak had acquired this song during the days when all was well with him—when birds sang merrily on his branches, and while the soft sunlight streaked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old and hard since then. Ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed up his long-forgotten melody, until the fiery tongues of the flames consumed his callousness. The intense heat of the fire wrenched from him both a song and a sacrifice at once. Then I realized: when the fires of affliction draw songs of praise from us, we are indeed purified, and our God is glorified!

“Maybe some of us are like this old oak log: cold, hard, unfeeling, and never singing any melodious sounds. It is the fires burning around us that release notes of trust in God and bring cheerful compliance with His will. As I thought of this, the fire burned, and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely revealed before me.

“Yes, singing in the fire! God helping us, sometimes using the only way He can to get harmony from our hard and apathetic hearts. Then, let the furnace be ‘heated seven times hotter than usual’ [Daniel 3:19].”

Upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.

They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.—I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.

And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth.—By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.—Who is like unto thee, O Lord , . . . glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?—I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.—They sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty.