“Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians. ‘Blessed be the Lord,’ Jethro exclaimed, ‘who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh. He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt! Now I know that the Lord is greater than all God’s, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.’ Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in God’s presence.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When God does what He does, it is always with a purpose in mind. We may not always know exactly what that purpose is, though, which can be really frustrating. We want to know the specifics so that we can respond appropriately. Not knowing the specific purpose God has in mind, however, doesn’t mean we don’t know the general one – and there’s always a general one. A conversation Moses has with his father-in-law points us toward this general purpose. Let’s talk about what this is and how we can always make sure we are on board with it.

Stories of what God has done are powerful. Even the ones that seem small and insignificant are. When God acts in a way that only God can act, our natural response is praise; it is awe and wonder. This is a natural reaction to anything that falls outside the boundaries of “normal” to us. We had a massive storm system roll through the area where I live yesterday. Schools were closed all over the region because of the threat of high winds and flooding. There wound up being some pretty serious flooding and at least one main road was closed indefinitely because so much of the ground underneath the road was washed away. That’s going to be enormously inconvenient for a long time because it will add 10-15 minutes to our trip to Sam’s for a while.

As we were getting ready for dinner, though, the worst of the rain had moved through and the setting sun started breaking through the clouds. It suddenly got really bright outside – the brightest it had been all day – but the coloring of the light was really eerie. Then, after we had finished dinner, the sun had dipped just below the horizon, but when it did, it illuminated that part of the sky. There were about four different layers of clouds visible, all shaped differently, and all a different color from black to a bright enough blue we first thought it was a patch of clear sky we were seeing. My ever-attentive bride noticed it first and exclaimed in wonder at the sight. Her interest piqued the interest of the boys, each of whom responded with the exact same wonder.

When Moses got together with his father-in-law, Jethro, he naturally told him the story of what God had done for the people. Whenever we encounter God in some powerful way, we can’t help but to tell the people around us about it. As Moses told the story – a collection of incredible actions on His part that far exceed an impressive meteorological display after a storm – Jethro’s response was immediate and filled with praise. “Blessed be the Lord!” he exclaimed. He couldn’t help himself. In fact, he was so blown away by the story that he repeated himself. He rescued you from the power of Egypt! He rescued you from the power of Egypt!

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing it was so incredible to him. Egypt was the superpower of that region in that day. Before God did what He did, no one could have even imagined Egypt being defeated. Only an absolutely overwhelming force would have stood even a glimmer of a chance. And yet Israel’s God had done it, and they didn’t have to lift a finger to be a part of it. Jethro’s mind was blown. He was not impressed with Israel, though, but with their God. “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”

This was exactly the outcome God wanted to achieve when He brought judgment to Egypt through Israel. He wanted people talking about who He was and what He had done. He wanted them impressed. He wanted them to hear His name and respond with awe and wonder. He wanted them to hear about what He had done for Israel and quake in their sandals just a bit at the thought of being in His presence. He wanted people around the world to recognize His power and might and give Him the glory and honor He deserved for who He was (and is!).

This hasn’t changed about God. He still wants to be known for who He is. He still acts in incredible ways in the lives of His people, and even in the lives of people who are not His, so that they will think about Him with awe and wonder. This is not because He is somehow starved for attention as it might seem to us. This is because He is God and knows He is worthy of this kind of attention from His creation. Giving God this kind of attention is good for us because it allows us to see the world as it really is. It helps put us in a place in which we are more willing to obey His commands and live as He designed us to live. The deeper and broader our wonder of God, the more likely we will be to treat Him as God. When we treat God as God, life will always be the result, and He wants us to live.

This is all why God does what He does. No matter what actions He takes in His world or in our lives, prompting this awe and wonder and praise on the part of people is always the goal. Now, none of this precludes God’s having a more specific purpose in mind for His activity in our world. He always does that too. But at the very least, if we don’t understand exactly why God has done what He has done, we can respond with praise and worship and we will be on the right track. He may reveal His more specific plans to us from there, or He may not. But either way, as long as we are worshiping Him, we are on the right track.

This means something very simple for us. We need to live our lives in such a way that we are always and constantly thinking about God with an attitude of praise, that we are making worship a lifestyle in response to what He has done. And how can we do such a thing, especially when the immediate circumstances of our lives don’t seem particularly praiseworthy? By constantly keeping in mind the greatest thing God has done: sending His Son to die in our place and then raising Him back to life on the third day in order to be able to give us the gift of salvation by grace through faith. Whatever else happens in our lives, we still have eternal life available in Christ. We can praise God through it or even for it because the hard won’t last for but a fleeting moment in comparison to the eternity in His kingdom we have ahead of us. Blessed be the Lord. Whether things seem good or awful, blessed by the Lord. He is worthy of it.