Can you blow the water out of a spoon?

Theologian R. C. Sproul says there are two parts to the holiness of God—His “set apartness” (He is not like us and we are not like Him—we are set apart) and His moral purity. We have a tendency to dwell on His moral purity rather than dwell on His “set apartness.”

I remember my Sunday school teacher Myra Moje handing out a one page paper with a picture on each side along with a small amount of writing. The Bible story was about Moses and the children of Israel and the parting of the Red Sea. On the front was Moses and the children of Israel walking into a lake with water parted, water probably 10 feet deep. Moses looked confident; the children of Israel looked scared. On the back of the lesson the picture was of the Egyptian army drowning in the Red Sea. I kept this lesson and hung it on the wall in my bedroom.

I am preparing to preach on the holiness of God and I thought about how majestic, powerful and mighty He is. How different from us. I considered the parting of the Red Sea; a cursory glance of the reading of Exodus 14 and 15 is impressive. It says in Exodus 14:21: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,” a whole night, up to 12 hours.

I then read Exodus 15, “the first praise song of the Bible” that God parted the Red Sea by air out of His nostrils. A “strong wind” in Exodus 14 is just air out of God’s nostrils.

I took a spoon, a serving spoon, and put a little water in it and then with my nose, tried to blow the water out of the spoon; I could not. I closed off one nostril and blew a little water out of the spoon. I have proof for sure that I’m not like God—He is set apart totally different from me. He is marvelous, wonderful and mighty beyond comparison.

Remember the Sunday school lesson with the picture of the ten foot wall of water? I did some research from World Book Encyclopedia; not the Internet in case you were wondering. (You can’t believe everything you read on the internet but you can believe World Book because my mother-in-law sold World Book and Mabel wouldn’t sell anything that told a lie!). In World Book it says the average depth of the Red Sea is 1785 feet; a little over a third of a mile in depth. The widest point of the Red Sea is 221 miles. I got to thinking—let’s say they didn’t pass through the widest part but a part 50 miles wide. Now, our Holy, Majestic, all powerful God, blows air out of his nose; it’s a strong east wind (Ex.14:21). He stands water up 1785 feet for 50 miles, holds it there for 12 hours and I cannot blow water out of a spoon! He is set apart from us. He is God. He is Holy, Majestic, and All-Powerful. We are not any of these.

Listen, it said when He closed back the water, He let out a breath (Ex. 15:10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them.), and the Egyptian army and their horses sunk like lead to the bottom…Just a sigh from the Almighty and water returned.

Brothers and sisters let us wallow in the power and majesty and holiness of our God. Forgive us for trivializing His word about who He is. A little bit of research into facts leaves us staggering—He is the Great I Am…

Last Saturday I heard a story on the radio about a disagreement about who has the tallest building in the world Taipei, Taiwan or Abu Dubai. Abu Dubai won—1685 feet. Think of this, 3,500 years later, mere men get puffed up when they pile up steel, concrete and glass, and with modern technology can only build a building 1685 feet high, a full 100 feet short of the walls of water God help up for 12 hours for over 50 miles, possibly more. What a God! He alone deserves our praise and worship.

What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:4. All of this is humbling and it should be. Amen

Exodus 14-15; Isaiah 6:1-9, 1 Peter 1:15-16; Hebrews 12:14