Two weeks ago I started a study of the Book of Exodus which
tells of GOD fulfilling His covenant promise to Abraham by delivering his
descendants from slavery in Egypt and taking them to the Promised Land.
By the end of chapter 12 the Israelites have left Egypt and are
on their way.
The thirteenth chapter opens with Moses giving the people careful
instructions for celebrating a supernatural deliverance from Egypt “This is a day to remember forever—the day
you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the Lord has brought you out
by the power of his mighty hand.” (13:3).
We also see the LORD Himself guiding Israel’s journey. The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them
during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a
pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. 13:21
However, despite all Israel has experienced, just days into
the journey a pattern begins to emerge and we are reading about a group of people
without faith, gratitude and obedience.
As GOD planned it, the Pharaoh has a change of heart in
chapter 14 and sends his army to bring Israel back. When Israel realizes that
they are being pursued, their immediate reaction is panic and complaining.
“Why did you bring us
out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt?
What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you
this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let
us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse
in the wilderness!’” 14:11-12
Moses calms them and reassures them that GOD is for them and
is not letting them down: “Don’t be
afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you
see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just
stay calm.” 14:13-14
We are familiar with the events that follow – GOD parts the
Red Sea to allow Israel to cross over on dry land and then brings the sea back
together and the Egyptian army perishes. At this time, we are told, Israel sees
the awesome power of their GOD and has faith in Him.
When the people of
Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians,
they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in
his servant Moses. 14:31
Exodus 15:1-18 recounts a victory celebration of song and
dance before the LORD: “I will sing to
the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory…”
BUT just three days later, they revert to the same behavior!
The people are now in the wilderness and are thirsty but the
water is bitter and unfit to drink. Do they stop and ask anything of the
awesome GOD in whom they have put their faith, the LORD who triumphed
gloriously and is now their strength and their song of victory? NO! They turn surly
and hostile against Moses… the people
complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” 15:24 And with great forbearance GOD makes the water sweet and fit to drink.
By now these people ought to recognize a pattern of
faithfulness in GOD, right? Not nearly!
Less than a month and one chapter later they are grumbling
again because they are hungry. “If only
the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots
filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us
into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” 16:2. Not a shred of
gratitude for what GOD is doing and has done; they see only the pleasures of
the “good ole days,” which we know weren’t!
But again GOD fixes that problem and they have bread and
meat that they don’t have to work for – it rains down from heaven for them. So
are we OK now? Not yet!
We are barely into chapter 17 and we see them again
complaining to Moses about not having water: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our
children, and our livestock with thirst?”17:3.
At this point Moses has lost his patience and cries out to GOD for help: “What should I do with these people? They
are ready to stone me!” 17:4
But guess who is still patient and faithful? Yet again GOD
provides for them!
Except for the one time when GOD took them through the Red
Sea and destroyed the Egyptian army after them, we see not a single record of
thanksgiving from Israel’s lips for any of the provisions of water, bread, meat
and daily guidance GOD faithfully provides. Actually, I am getting a sense of a spirit of
entitlement here.
If you have read the Old Testament account of GOD’s
relationship with Israel, His chosen people, you know that this behavior trend continues
so that the people who came out of Egypt never made it into the Promised Land. Their
descendants didn’t do much better and escalated to idol worship so that
eventually GOD lost patience and allowed them to be driven out of the Promised
Land by their enemies and into exile and slavery.
Why am I retelling this?
Exodus chapters 13 to 17 account of Israel’s complaining and
murmuring in the face of GOD’s continuing goodness can sometimes be hilarious
because it’s so simplistic in its arrogance. But ultimately, I began to think about
my own walk with GOD and was both convicted and mortified to recall the number
of occasions when I faced difficult circumstances and responded as one for whom
GOD had never done a thing. Which is totally untrue!
How many times has GOD come through for any of us and then
at the very first sign of a later discomfort or trouble our first response is
to call a friend to complain. We fail to recognize that for a child of GOD to act
this way is to do what Moses accused Israel of doing – testing GOD by saying in
effect, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”
Exodus 17:7.
The answer is, GOD never leaves us today as He never left
Israel then. So our first response in times of trouble and need ought to be to
turn to our loving and faithful Father. Instead we grumble, complain and seek
out other avenues hoping to alleviate the problems on our own. Or we seek out
idols for comfort.
There are many accounts in the Old Testament of GOD offering
forgiveness and restoration to Israel if they would turn back to Him but they
keep falling away. (Jeremiah 3:22;
Zechariah 1:3;
Finally, GOD sends His Son to redeem His people. The point
being, GOD has done more than enough for us and He continues to love us
faithfully even when we are not doing the same for Him.
J. Hudson Taylor writes that “All GOD’s promises are in the
present tense.” We can apply this thought to any promise as we need but let’s try Psalm 23:1a, which I have
done for my own personal use:
The LORD is my Shepherd –
this minute; in the next hour; tonight;
tomorrow; next week; Sunday through Saturday; next month; next year; 20 years
from today; on your vacation; in your new location; in a hospital bed; at a job interview;
as you take your marriage vows; when your spouse leaves; as the coffin is lowered into the cold
earth; as you birth a child; when that child rebels; in good times and in bad times; continually, indefinitely, intentionally….forever, the LORD is your Shepherd.
GOD’s promises are sure and unchangeable.
While we may reach an impasse of some sort in our journey,
like Israel did at the Red Sea, we must hold fast to GOD! We do not panic,
murmur, or complain. We tell GOD our troubles, ask for His help and watch Him
do what we could never think to ask for or imagine.
Our GOD is an ever present help!
Fear not and stand firm!
All Scripture is inspired by God, is useful to teach us what is true and
to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong
and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16
Prayer and Thanksgiving: Our gracious and loving Father, thank
YOU for being our GOD and cause us to seek YOU first and always, in good times
and in bad. Thank YOU that YOUR loving kindness is better than life itself and
our lips shall always praise YOU. Cause us to never forget YOUR benefits – that
YOU are the GOD who heals our diseases, redeems our lives from destruction, crowns
us with tender mercies, and satisfies our mouths with good
things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Above all, Father, YOU forgive
our sins for all time when YOU gave YOUR only SON. Thank YOU for being our
Portion; YOU are all that we need. We give YOU all the glory, all the honor,
and all the praise, and we pray all things in JESUS’ Mighty NAME. Amen!
Always by God’s Word and prayer,
Cecile
No comments:
Post a Comment