Parshah Recovery
Constant Miracles

"…And G‑d caused the sea to go back with a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land and the waters split. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left"—Exodus 14:21-22.

In this week's portion, we read of that most famous of miracles – the splitting of the Red Sea. Of all the supernatural events recorded in the Bible, this seems to be the one that has captured our collective consciousness as the most quintessential of all wonders. And yet, upon deeper consideration, we see that the marvel of the splitting of the sea is not nearly as remarkable as the miracle of the ongoing creation of the world at this moment.

The world exists because G‑d compels it to exist through the ceaseless exertion of His powerConsider: In order to make the waters of the sea stand upright, it says that G‑d blew a massive east wind which pushed the waters back all night. In other words, to make the waters stand, G‑d imposed upon them a constant force. Now, the miracle of the splitting of the sea only took one pre-existing element – the sea – and changed its form into something else – a wall. But the creation of the universe from utter void and nothingness takes nothing and turns it into something. If merely changing one element into the form of another requires the constant exertion of force, then all the more so the existence of the universe which comes from nothing must be continuously brought into being by an uninterrupted and continuous power.

In other words, the world exists because G‑d compels it to exist through the ceaseless exertion of His power. A mortal craftsman may construct a vessel and leave his finished work unattended without danger of it reverting to its previous un-crafted form. But when G‑d makes nothing into something, this is a change which defies the very essence of nothing. Without constant force, that which exists would revert to its true state of nothingness.

Believing in a Higher Power is one thing; but believing in a Higher Power who is in control at every moment is another. For those in recovery, it is not enough that we simply believe in G‑d, we must surrender to Him with complete trust. The knowledge that G‑d is always in complete and constant control of His world is essential to maintaining the acceptance and serenity we need to stay sober. We don't believe in accidents. We believe that everything that is now is exactly as G‑d wants it to be right now; that there is only now and that G‑d is always creating right now. These are the facts that allow us to make peace with our lives and find the G‑dliness that is ever-present in everything.