Erythrias

Once upon a time, long ago there was a long thin body of water named Erythrias. Erythrias was more than 6 times longer than he was wide and at his deepest; Erythrias was over a mile and a half deep. His deepest part was where Erythrias lay on top of a great crack in the earth called the Great Rift Valley trench where he filled a deep crack in the earth but even his more shallow areas were deep as wll for Erythis average depth was over 1500 feet which is almost  ¼ of a mile deep. Well anyway you get the point, for such a skinny sea, Erythrias was really deep.

Now before I tell you about Erythrias, I need to explain to you what water is really like. You see water is like the most basic thing to life that there is. If anything knows about life, its water. For most of the earths life forms live in water, need water to live and are made of mostly water. In fact you and I are over 90% water. Now you also need to realize that each body of water has a personality and a job and that job is to manage life itself. Yes the bodies of water on this world are all involved in some aspect of managing life on this world. Some in local areas like lakes and rivers and others like oceans managing life across the major continents even the whole world . So basically water is really important and guess what – the bodies of water on this planet know it. Yes the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, streams and even ponds all know how important they are and because they do, they are all pretty arrogant (you know – kind of proud and stuck up). Well Erythrias was no different and since he contained over 1000 species of fish and 200 species of living corals, he was as arrogant as the oceans despite being a small skinny sea. Well anyway, now that you understand how bodies of water think and what they do, lets get back to our story about Erythrias.

 Now Erythrisa was well known among the peoples who lived nearby for the clear warm water that you could see through even 200 feet down.  Erythris would have been a great sea for snorkel diving if it were not for the strong tricky currents that always were surging through him and the strong winds that often blew over him. These made Erythrias a bit dangerous to swim in so most people who swam or fished in Erythrias stayed very close to shore. 

Well one day, Erythrias was doing his normal thing,  moving water from his deeper regions where volcanic vents spewed minerals and other basic nutrients into his water to his upper layers where fish and other life forms could use it . Suddenly he noticed a large group of people arrive at his south-western shore and setup camp. Soon more people arrived, then more, and more and more. Within a few days Erythrisa shoreline was packed for miles in both directions with thousands upon thousands of people. To Erythrias this was not something he appreciated for people were a life form he considered inferior and un-important. Why people could not even breath in water – yuk, and they always seem to damage the good life in the sea so the thought of them made him sick to his trenches just to think about it. You see he had learned to tolerate small groups of people but having thousands upon thousands of them at his shore made him very uncomfortable indeed. What were they up to he thought. I hope they go away soon. But they didn’t. Instead they stayed and even more continued to arrive day after day so Erythrias decided he would have to talk to God about it at his next opportunity.

Talk to God , you say – oh yes  I forgot to mention that bodies of water not only know who God is but they often get to talk to Him. For God often gives instructions to water to carry out some action in the management of life. It didn’t happen every day, but when God wanted something special done, he would call and give the body of water some instructions and Erythrias knew, just like every other body of water, that you always obeyed God because God was God, the creator. He was the one who organized water and gave water its job and importance. So anyway, Erythrias made up his mind to ask God if He wouldn’t get rid of these people for him next time God called, but before that happened, Erythrias noticed a huge cloud of dust growing on the horizon the west and what happened next completely changed his mind about people.

The cloud of dust was coming from the west and growing larger quickly. There were no winds that day, so it was not a dust storm and that was odd so Erythrias wondered what could be making such a a large cloud of dust. The people on his shore also saw it and they were not acting curious but rather were very  afraid. They must know what it is Erythrias thought, and you know he was right. For the people began to yell and scream and many even started running. But there were so many people, there was really no place to go. Some jumped into Erythrias and started to swim, but others waded in and quickly pulled them back. Good thing too, thought Erythris, and he got a strong current ready to hit them with in case any more decided to jump in. But as he did, suddenly he heard the all familiar voice of God. Erythrias, God said, relax. Calm down and let your currents go still for tonight I want you calm and still inside. Tomorrow I need you do me a favor  but for now be totally still……  Bummer thought Erythrias, he had never been totally still since God created him. It was just un-natural he thought,  but he obeyed anyway and made his water totally still.

That night the people on the shore seem to calm down too. Perhaps the cloud of dust had settled and the danger gone but Erythris was not so sure about that for despite the dark of night there was an eerie glow of a huge fire coming from the same direction as the cloud of dust. Erythrias was wondering whether that glow could be on fire when a man stepped out on the shore and raised a stick out over the water. As he did a strong east wind began to blow and Erythrias began to move. The wind grew in intensity quickly pressing hard against Erythrias and instead of causing waves it started forming a trench Erythrisa for he was fully relaxed as God has requested.  Erythrias was too irritated to notice the deepening trench because for some reason the man with the stick was not blown by the wind. In fact the wind seemed to stop right at the shore. Erythrias was mad because he could not understand why the wind should be allowed to push him around but not these inferior people.

Now the east wind blew and blew all night long and the wind blown trench in Erythrias got deeper and deeper and deeper. By the early morning hours the wind swept trench had reached Erythrias’s  bottom and was now drying the sea bed.  Erythrias, the skinny sea, was now split apart into two separate pieces and  there was nothing holding back the two pieces except wind. It was almost like a road had been created right across him.

As the sun came up that day, Erythrias watched with amazement as over 2 million people started to walk right through this trench on his sea bed that was now dry as a desert. They walked  from his southern shore all the way to his north-eastern shore on dry land. It took them a while but when all the people reach the other shore , Erythrias saw what had been making the cloud of dust. Chariots, thousands of horse pulled chariots and all where filled with men swinging swords.

 Now wonder these people were afraid. The chariot was the most feared weapon of the day and it looked like these people were being chased by some of their own kind that were intending to kill them. As the chariots entered the road in the sea Erythrias though wow, I have got to see this.

But just then God spoke again to Erythrias, he said, Erythrisa, You have done a great job of being relaxed but now I need you to do me that favor I mentioned yesterday. I need your currents to flow once again.  The east wind has been told to cease. Use your strongest current to return your waters into the trench. I give you these chariots to treat as you do all who enter the sea. Erythrias responded, but they will drown – they’re people . God said, I know.

As Erythrias pushed his waters back together, the army of chariots was crushed by the immense pressures of the returning water and the chariots riders all drowned. One minute they were a fearsome army chasing two million people and the next minute they were nothing but fish food and that made Erythrias consider something he had never before considered. As he watched his own waters destroy the Egyptian army that day, he realized that some people were so important to God that he will even change the rules of nature on this planet to help them and yet others he is willing to end the life of in seconds even in large quantities. Erythris wondered what is it that made the difference. Do you know ?

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Is is because some people are better than others ?.. no that’s not it. God says all people are sinners. That’s why Jesus had to doe for us.  Is it because of the county you are from ? No,  God says he loves people of all countries. Is it because some people obey God better ? No, that’s not it . God says that obeying God is important but we cannot earn Gods favor. Is it because of the religion you are brought up in ? .. No that’s not it, God says He brings people of all religions away from their incorrect beliefs to the truth.

So then what is it ? .. Well in this story the people being chased were the Israelites. The Bible says there were Gods chosen people. He was at that time building them up into a special nation that he had plans for. The army chasing them was led by a man called pharaoh and he and his army had to be stopped to protect Gods plan and his chosen people and God used the Sea of Erythrias (now called the Red Sea) to do that.

Read Rom 9:14-23 .. In this scripture the Bible tells us that we should not be surprised or call God unfair if God chooses some people to be merciful to and others  not to as part of giving them life . His plans for people were decided long ago even before their birth.    After all he is the creator of life, the sustainer of life and the finisher of life. So rather than think about what’s just & fair, consider what vs 23 says. It says the reason he does the choosing is to show his power, his glory and his mercy to those he prepared for his glory.  So instead of thing about what you think is fair think instead of how special it is to be treated by God with mercy and think how you might respond to him because he did. 

Sovereignty