The last two days I have shared some of the struggles the Israelites encountered as they left Egypt and ventured into the wilderness. There is so much we can learn from their story.
These were a people who had been in slavery and hard labor for a good four hundred years. The Lord had made a promise that He would bring them into their own land hundreds of years before. They had let their hope die.
Then Moses comes on the scene and says the Lord sent me to lead you out. Their basic comment was “don’t stir things up Moses”. But Moses obeyed the Lord and went to pharoah and asked him to let the people go out from Egypt three days journey to offer sacrifices and worship the Lord.
You know the story. Pharoah had a hardened heart to anything that had to do with the Lord and he refused. The plagues came – flies, locusts, frogs, water turning to blood, hail, thick darkness, boils, dead livestock and finally death.
Deliverance came.
They marched out of Egypt, only to be pursued by pharoah’s army. The Israelites complained, “you brought us out here to be killed, we should turn back”. The Lord brought them safely through the Red Sea and destroyed the Egyptian army.
Then came the party.
Singing, dancing, praising God for being so great and wonderful. These were a fickled people – faith filled one moment and faithless the next.
“Then she sang to them: “Sing praises to the Lord for his great victory! He has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.”
22 After the Israelites left the Red Sea, Moses led them through the Shur Desert for three days, before finding water. 23 They did find water at Marah, but it was bitter, which is how that place got its name. 24 The people complained and said, “Moses, what are we going to drink?” 25 Moses asked the Lord for help, and the Lord told him to throw a piece of wood into the water. Moses did so, and the water became fit to drink. At Marah the Lord tested his people and also gave them some laws and teachings. ” Exodus 15:21-25 CEV
From singing and dancing to murmuring and complaining. How quickly they turned.
Let’s not be to harsh on them. We’ve done this too. God answers our prayers and we sing His praises and then the next hardship comes and we begin to ask “Lord, where are you?”.
Let’s learn from them and what the Lord did. The Lord loved these people. He had no evil intent toward them. He brought them out of Egypt to save them, not destroy them. Natural circumstances gave them bitter water, the Lord made it sweet.
Sounds like the old expression “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Our Father is good, kind and loving. The Lord loves us too. Why is it so hard for us to trust Him?
“Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing” Philippians 2:13-14 ERV
Are you in life’s desert right now? Do circumstances look bleek and bitter? Refrain from complaining and trust the Father.
He will make the bitter sweet.
