Pack Your Praise

You are packing today what you will have tomorrow. And don't you forget to pack your praise. So we're gonna skip down to Exodus, chapter 15. When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them. But Israel walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam, the prophet Aaron's sister, took her timbrel in her hand and all the women followed her with timbr. A timbrel is a tambourine. And Miriam sang to them. Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and the driver he has hurled into the sea.

Okay, I don't know.

I picked a version that had the wrong word and we wanted to. Tambourine is what we're going for. Okay. So I don't know if you noticed that, but it appears that we have a few over packers amongst the Israelites because Miriam packed her tambourine.

Like, let's just imagine. Let's go back to the moment speculation here. Okay, but let's go back to the moment.

Remember, they're packing in a hurry. Okay?

So maybe somebody quickly writes a list.

The list person writes a list.

They're like bread. Check.

Okay. No yeast, but it's fine.

Get the bread bowl. Yes.

Clothes?

Yes.

Blankets. Yes.

Silver and gold. Yes. And the Bible doesn't say if Miriam was married or not. But can we just imagine Aaron, one of her brother Aaron or brother Moses.

Looking at her and being like, Miriam, you really need your tambourine. And Miriam looks back at her brothers and she says, oh, I'm unpack. My praise.

And when they crossed over on dry land and they looked across and they saw Pharaoh and his army drown. Just go with me here. But I can imagine Miriam, she goes digging into her bag and she digs past the, I don't know, the sunscreen and the olive oil and the medicinal herbs, and she pulls out her tambourine. And you know what the best thing about a tambourine is? You don't have to have much skill to use is loud and it gets the people's attention. And when all the women heard Miriam's tambourine, guess what? They packed theirs too. And they followed Miriam and they went out after her. And they led the people with singing and dancing and praising the Lord who had triumphed gloriously. They were free for the first time in Jesus generations.

So my friend Ann Voskamp, she was writing about this story and this is what she said.

She said they made time to grab their tambourines because they knew that Thanksgiving is what feeds your soul with joy in the wilderness.

When you pack your soul with gratitude, it will not miss an opportunity to praise God. And yes, they needed to pack for their physical survival, but they needed to bring something to feed their souls too. You are packing today what you will have tomorrow. And don't you forget to pack your praise. Don't forget your Hallelujah. God has given you everything you need and you don't have to pack light when you head into the next season. You take everything you can and and you move forward.

Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that encouraged you today. Make sure that you, like, subscribe and hit that bell to turn on notifications so that you don't miss out on other videos just like this one. And I'll see you back here next time.