A couple weeks ago I began an Old Testament survey class through Liberty University Online. Right now i am studying Exodus. In reading about the Israelites, I think many times we wonder why they grumbled and failed to trust in God after He had already accomplished so many miracles for them.
God freed them from the Egyptians through the 10 plagues and through crossing the Red Sea. I mean, how amazing would it be to see these miracles performed just so you could escape slavery. However, right before crossing the Red Sea, in Exodus 14:11-12 the Israelites said:
"They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!""
After they had seen the miracles of the 10 plagues, they failed to trust that God would continue to save them - yet God still saved them even though they lacked faith. He opened the Red Sea and they crossed it and the Egyptians were killed when the Sea fell on them. Again, a little later in Exodus, the Israelites again questioned God's provision. In Exodus 15:22-27, the Israelites came to Marah where the water was bitter and again they grumbled to Moses asking what would they drink? Again, the Lord provided for His people by changing the water to make it drinkable for them - even though they complained and lacked faith at that moment.
Again, in Exodus 16:2-3 - "In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."" And again, the Lord provided for them by giving them manna every day - telling them to take just the amount they needed to eat each day. Yet, some Israelites did not listen and took more than what they would eat in one day. The manna that they kept overnight became spoiled and probably made it smell quite badly. Thus, the Israelites were given food from God and they still did not listen to His orders regarding it. Yet God still continued to provide them with manna.
Throughout their wilderness time, God continued to tell them that He would provide Canaan to them. He continued to provide for them even when they grumbled and lacked faith in Him. However, in Numbers 14, after the people had reached the edge of Canaan, the promised land, the people lacked faith and told Moses that they would not try to enter the land because they were afraid of the giants in the land. They lacked faith that God would fulfill His promise to them to provide Canaan to them. The people even said they should just go back to Egypt - back to the land that had imprisoned them! This time, God would provide Canaan to the Israelites except not to those Israelites that had left Egypt. He told them they would wander in the desert for 40 years, until all those over 20 had died, and only those who were born after they had left Egypt would be able to enter the land of Canaan.
How many of us look at this story and think the Israelites were completely stupid for not having faith in God and His provisions after everything He had already done? Yet how many of us do this every day? We constantly worry about God providing what we need. We worry about finances, relationships, fear of the future...yet God has promised to always be with us and always provide for us. It may not be in the way we think things should happen, but we need to trust in His will. We need to have faith that He will provide for us. We need to not be like the Israelites continually grumbling at God and continually trying to go back to our "Egypt" - our live before Christ - our prison. We need to strive toward what God has promised us and His daily provisions.
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