It's impossible to worship when you are so busy complaining.
Exodus 20:1-5 Then God gave the people all these instructions: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 “You must not have any other god but me. 4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.
After the miraculous escape from Egypt there was so much rejoicing and relief for what God did for His children. It is so obvious to everyone that God is the only one with power over the gods of Egypt and He is in love with His people. It also seems like the people are in love with Him as well.
One of the earliest praise and worship songs ever, was sung by Moses and all of the people joined in, it looks like there was 100% participation in worship on that day. Imagine seeing God's power displayed as it was during the plagues of Egypt and the power that they saw as they escaped the Egyptian army, worship was the only appropriate response. (Exodus 15:1-3)
But the worship service didn't last long enough, God's children found that the quickest way to end a worship service is to start complaining against God and the leaders that he has given, it is impossible to worship Him if you are busy complaining about Him. (Exodus 15:24, 16:2, 17:2)
When God's people grumble and complain about God the outcome will include complaining about each other. Right after the people complained about God they also started having disputes with each other that Moses would have to decide. There were so many disputes that it took up all of Moses time. (Exodus 18:13-16)
Meanwhile the complainers are making a vow to God to be obedient to all of the commands that God gave to them through Moses. "We will do it," they promised (Exodus 19:8, 24:7) but just a little while later they are already going back on the number one rule to have only one God without any "god's." (Exodus 32:1)
It is too easy to make empty promises, we make them to each other, to ourselves and even to God. You might buy your empty promises and you may fool somebody else but God knows what is going on, promises and sacrifices wont do you any good if you are living in sin and you are not willing to repent and change your ways.
Just like God's children we have gained so much that it makes you wonder how we could be so unfaithful to the greatest friend that we could ever have. When God says that He alone is God and He wants me to live in that reality everyday then how dare I become a traitor and place my loyalty somewhere else.
Isaiah 45:22 Let all the world look to Me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.God gave out some basic guidelines to help us to know how to treat him, he proved to His people over and over that He alone is God and He alone has the right to rule over our lives. But if you are not thankful for what God has done then you will be just like those complainers in the wilderness.
Sure, they got to see some spectacular miracles but we have the full revelation of the Gospel that they didn't have, we have the big picture of the New Testament that they couldn't know about like we do. Yet we are so bored many times with grace even as we sing the song "Amazing Grace."
As Easter approaches I need to remember that I have a friend that is true to me and He will always treat me better than I could possibly treat Him. I need to be true to Him and do everything that I can to be pleasing to Him and serve Him above anything or anybody else.
