Closer Than Close, Part 2
Closer Than Close, Part II
Psalm 19: 1 – 4a
Matthew 6: 26 – 29
January 25, 2026
In Sunday School, our children are looking once again at the story of Moses leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt and to the Promised Land. I am sure you are at least generally familiar with the story.
Centuries before Moses, the people of Israel are in the midst of a severe famine in their land, and they travel to Egypt for food and work. A number of generations pass and these Jewish immigrants thrive. The first chapter of Exodus, describing a time some 350 years after the first arrival of the Israelites, tells us: “they [the Israelites] were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.”
Things are going well for the Israelites, but not so much for their hosts, the Egyptians. A new king is threatened by the prosperity of the Israelites and questions their loyalty to Egypt. So he decides to make their lives miserable, hoping that they will leave. The king placed the Jews under abusive supervisors and greatly increased their expected workload. But the text tells us, “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they were spread abroad.”
“The Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.”
The story tells us that the Israelites are worked as slaves, given all kinds of back breaking labor, until finally the Jewish midwives are told by the king to be sure that all first-born sons are killed at childbirth. The Hebrew midwives refuse to follow the orders of the king, but life only gets worse for the Israelites. The work gets harder; the supervisors are even more abusive until finally God sends Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
We know that story, the story of the plagues, the escape of the people of God, the parting of the Red Sea and Israel’s miraculous escape. I remind us once again of all of this just to set the context for yet another miraculous action by God.
Israel is in the wilderness, 600,000 men and their families. Not to say that their travel is easy. Not to say that life was glamorous. But they had just been led out of Egypt, out of slavery, out of abusive work expectations, out from under the threat of losing their first-born sons - and the free people of Israel are not happy. Numbers 11 records their grumbling. God miraculously provides manna and quail, but the Israelites are recorded as saying:
“If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Hmmm….. led out of Israel miraculously. Led through the parted Red Sea to safety miraculously. Fed manna and quail - miraculously, and the Israelites are obnoxiously complaining. It reminds me of when I used to open the chockfull refrigerator and then complain to my Mom that there was nothing to eat.
Manna for the thousands of Hebrews was a miracle! They had forgotten that the fish that they had eaten in Egypt were free only because they were not. They were slaves.
Friends, dear ones, we are so used to the daily miracles of God in our lives that we take them for granted. As Batterson reminds us, that which we don’t receive with gratitude we then take for granted. Gratitude is an ever-growing appreciation for the countless miracles that we experience each and every day. Those miracles are the proof of the ongoing presence, even the closeness of God.
Because of some health issues, I have become increasingly appreciative of those little miracles in our bodies known as red and white blood cells. Do you know, or do you appreciate, that with every breath you take, that oxygen you inhale gets absorbed into your bloodstream through a process called diffusion. Batterson tells us that , “The average adult has 30 trillion red blood cells, and each of those red blood cells contains roughly 260 million proteins called hemoglobin. Oxygen molecules hitch a ride, and hemoglobin gets them where they need to go.”1
White blood cells are no less miraculous. White blood cells (leukocytes) are essential components of the immune system that protect the body against illnesses, infections, and diseases. They circulate in the blood to identify and destroy harmful foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses, and parasites. These cells also remove damaged tissues and malignant cells. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the healthy human body creates over 100 billion white cells each and every day.2
When was the last time you thanked God for the red and white blood cells in your body or hemoglobin? When was the last time you gave thanks for any of the other microscopic miracles going on in your body with every breath, with every pump of your heart, with every inhale and exhale.
What we don’t receive with gratitude, we learn to take for granted. And when we take the miracles, the care of God for granted we lose sight of the near and dear, close and providing care of God.
Batterson writes in a powerful way:
“If that kind of nuanced gratitude seems like overkill, maybe that’s why you haven’t been overjoyed in a long time. Generic [everyday] gratitude results in generic [everyday] joy.…..
Orthodox Jews pronounce a minimum of a hundred blessings a day, which is quite a quota. Those blessings cover the gamut of human experience, but their breadth is matched by their depth. A blessing is spoken before and after enjoying a meal, as well as during the meal. Freshly baked bread, for example, is a double blessing. The smell and the taste are two separate blessings!.....
‘A man embezzles from God,’ says the Talmud, ‘when he makes use of this world without uttering a blessing.’ Again, if we don’t take things for gratitude, we take them for granted. And if we take them granted, it’s as if we’ve stolen them from God. That’s why identifying everyday miracles – and praising God for them – is at the core of spiritual growth.”3
The Israelites took their manna and quail – and their freedom – for granted. That led them to grumbling and a profound discontent. That grumbling spirit led them to question to nearness and goodness of God. Friends, how about you?
I always appreciated the ability of Becky’s father to make beautiful furniture. He was meticulous, his attention to detail was exasperating, but one could quarrel with the results. I, on the other hand, can make sturdy things, things that will last, things that can take a licking and keep ticking. But they are hardly attractive. No oner has ever said, of my creations, that they were beautiful. Buth they were solid, functional, and would last.
Friends, look with me at the beauty of God’s creation. Look at the intricacy, the beauty, the variety. God could have created functionally. God could have created a solid, functional, and lasting world - but that was not the process that God initiated.
From the Psalmist: God’s glory is on tour across the skies. The presence of God, the testimony speaking to the presence and closeness of God, is everywhere. The hand of the Maker, the presence of God is as close as our beating hearts and as vast as that beautiful ocean that I look out on as I drive on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Batterson finishes, “It’s recognizing the good, the true, and the beautiful for what they really are – a million little miracles.”
Friends, living lives of gratitude; recognizing the goodness and closeness of God results in lives of thanksgiving, obedience, service, and generosity. Living life with our eyes wide open, and our hearts attuned to God helps us to hear the voice of God as God whispers in our ear, “I love you.” God is THAT great and THAT close. Amen.
1 Mark Batterson, A Million Little Miracles (Multnomah Press, 2024), pg. 81.
2 Cleveland, White Blood Cells
3 Mark Batterson, A Million Little Miracles (Multnomah Press, 2024), pg. 82.