15th September 2020

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “It is, what it is”.  It’s an interesting assessment of the way things can sometimes be, and the statement is not without its truth. Some situations just can’t be changed, and the sooner we come to the point of acceptance and look for some way of coping, the better. Continual moaning will not change things, nor help the people who have to live with us.

But the statement is not a universal truth, nor a truth that has prevailed throughout time. I’m up to that part in the Book when the Israelites arrive at the Red Sea in their flight from Egypt. They’re hemmed in. Pharaoh’s army is pressing on one side. The deep waters of the Red Sea bar the way on the other. And there is no escape to the north or south. But who will expect Moses to stand up at that hour and say, “You know what? It is, what it is.”

Because that will not be true. The One whose name is “I am who I am” will step in. “Stand firm,” said Moses, “the Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” And then the waters moved. And then it wasn’t what it was! And the Israelites fled to their freedom. Many times in life, “it is, what it is”, and we need to accept the fact; but it is not always so. Just sometimes, it isn’t.

DM 15^th Sep 2020