The wilderness will teach us to trust God on the way to our promised land.
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Exodus 16:7-10 In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard
your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done
that you should complain about us?” 8 Then Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the LORD, not against us.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron,
“Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves
before the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’”
10 And as Aaron spoke to the
whole community of Israel, they looked out toward the wilderness. There
they could see the awesome glory of the LORD in the cloud.
We recently learned that God's people went from the highest most joyful situation to the most extreme low. One moment the redeemed were rejoicing that they were out of Egypt and the next moment they are regretting that they left. It didn't take long for their memories of the past to look good compared to what they were dealing with at the moment.
God's main goal and purpose for our life is not what we focus on, he doesn't worry about how to provide for our physical necessities, we have the worst time trying to see that God is working and he usually has a good purpose behind our trials.
God was not surprised by any of these circumstances that his people
encountered in the wilderness, he showed his power through the plagues and the release of his people from Egypt, he brought thousands of people across the sea on dry ground and had the sea swallow their enemy.
Despite all of this, there are still questions about God's faithfulness, he should be trusted to continue to help them in the
place that he has brought them, but his people have a long way to go in their spiritual journey. This section of the book of Exodus shows us five things that God does to teach us to trust him more.
How does God provide for our journey home?
1. God test us
God will put you through test to show you what he already knows about
you. He already knows what the spiritual MRI is going to show about your
heart, he knows about the attitudes, the unbelief and the lack of faith, the test results are for your benefit.
Don't waste the opportunities when you are in
the school of faith. It is important that you learn from your test so that you may avoid a
retake. When his people grumbled for water the second time they didn't realize that it was a retake and they had failed the test again. (Exodus
15:22-27, 17:1-7)
2. God gives us daily bread
The sweet bread from Heaven was a foretaste of what they could have when
they get to the land of milk and honey. You would think that
the promised future that they were reminded of would help them get
through the wilderness experience with more finesse.
Having enough to eat today should have helped them trust God with their empty
pantries every night. God's rule's stated that they were only allowed to have food in the pantry
on the night before the Sabbath, on this one night the food would be
preserved for the next day instead of spoiling. (Exodus 16:1-36)
3. God treats us better than we deserve
Praise God that we get what we don't deserve and we don't get what we do deserve! God's goodness to lowly, self righteous, prideful humans is extremely way beyond what we deserve!
The lack of trust started way back in the Garden of Eden and it hasn't gotten any better. It goes against our nature to trust God so each generation has to learn the same lessons that the previous struggled with.
4. God fights for us
The force that God used against their enemies was a foretaste of what he
will do when they get to the Promised Land. God will give them victories against mighty forces that they shouldn't to able to defeat without his power. (Exodus 17:8-16, Exodus 14:13)
Anything or any person that weakens your trust in God is your enemy. If
it fights against your ability to trust in God and find satisfaction in
him then it is pulling you away from him toward something inferior.
5. God gives wisdom
An entire nation of selfish people were going to have their share of
problems as they make their way to the Promised Land. A multitude of
wise counselors would need to help them get along with each other along the way.
Without the wise advise of Jethro, Moses would have burned out and
wouldn't have been able to minister to God's people. God's leader was
taking on more things, even good things, than he could deal with on a long term basis.
(Exodus 18:13-27)
We are too prone to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand.-Charles Spurgeon
God knows that his people need to learn to trust him on their way to the Promised Land so that they will trust him in the Promised Land for the new challenges they will face there. They would be so much better off when they arrive at the Jordan River if they would have learned to trust God before they got there.
Looking ahead in the story we know that God's people suffered extreme consequences because they didn't trust him to help them take possession of the land. It's a lesson that God's people still have difficulty with today.
Psalm 95:8-9 The LORD says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did.
Since God has redeemed us and brought us out of slavery to sin we should know that he will provide for us completely until he takes us home. We are concerned more about our daily bread but God wants to focus on growing our trust in him.
Help me Lord to focus on the awesome things that you have done for me and your promises for my future. You gave me an abundant amount of evidence in my past to prove that I should trust you completely until I am home in eternity with you.
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(bible.org)
