Thanksgiving
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.” Exodus 15:1-2
The children of Israel had just experienced the most dramatic and astonishing deliverance. Pursued by the Egyptian army, the people were apparently defenseless. Any route of escape was cut off by the waters of the Red Sea. But they had the Almighty as their ally. He divided the sea and opened a way for Israel to cross, and then He brought the waters back on the pursuing Egyptians, destroying them completely so that they could never again threaten God’s people.
A deliverance such as this had to be marked by a special service of thanksgiving to God. For the occasion, Moses composed a special song of praise. In it, he and the children of Israel gave glory to God alone for their deliverance. They sang to Him, declaring that it was He who had triumphed gloriously.
This song of praise is important to believers of all times, who are ever threatened by the devil and the ungodly world. It teaches us that God is able to deliver His people. It reminds us of the greatest deliverance of all: Christ’s victory for us over sin, death, and the power of the devil, when He died for us and arose from the dead. It teaches us to remember His grace and power with songs of praise and thanksgiving until, by God’s grace, we join the victorious saints in heaven of whom we read, “And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!” (Revelation 15:3)
Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Amen.