Blood Red Water

At Sydney’s Bondi Beach, an eerie scene unfolded.  The water began to turn from its normal color to a horrifying blood red.  Swimmers and spectators became alarmed and fled from the water.  Strangely, the red water came as a result of a sudden increase in red algae.  The algae turned out to be mostly harmless, but swimmers were still discouraged from going into the water.

Similar to how a rainbow reminds us of God’s promise to never flood the earth again, this rare phenomenon brings to mind the time when the waters actually turned to blood.  Exodus 7:20-21 says, “So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded.  And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.  The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile.  And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.”

During this time in Egypt, some of the most awe-inspiring miracles were about to take place.  Besides having the water turn to blood, the Egyptian people were going to suffer through plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, death of cattle, boils, hail, locust, darkness, and the death of the first born (Exodus 7-12).  Soon after this, God was going to deliver His people from Egypt by parting the Red Sea, allowing them to escape, and destroying Pharaoh’s army (Exodus 14).

What was God’s purpose in all of this?  According to Exodus 7:17, it was to show that He is the Lord.  God most definitely accomplished His goal.  In fact, He accomplished this purpose so strongly that just seeing Sydney’s red water invokes strong reminders of the great power God displayed in Exodus thousands of years ago.

Though the red algae in Sydney may be a strange and unconventional reminder, let’s always remember the power God displayed so long ago.  We serve an awesomely powerful God who alone is worthy of our worship, honor, and praise.