Pre-Desert Story: The Israelites

Every desert has a pre-story.  

It's a "remember when" kind of thinking.  It may not have been that perfect when you were actually living it, but compared to the desert you are now in, this reminiscing gives the past a glow, a beauty that makes us want to go back.

But the desert doesn't allow that. You are here. That's it.

That's one of the reasons that sometimes people don't want to hear our current desert story.  They, like Job's friends, think:  

Wow.  My life is going quite well right now.  What did you do to lose it, and go into this desert place you keep talking about?  You must have done something.  Or the person you are with must have done something. Well, maybe not.  No one asks for cancer.  But if your life was going so well, and then this happened, will I be next?  Does the desert await everybody?

Good question--one filled with fear and wanting some kind of guarantee that the desert is for some people, but hopefully not me.  I had someone tell me years ago that they didn't want to become a Christian, because bad things happen to Christians.  I asked how did she come to this conclusion? She  said that every Christian seminar or event has someone telling about how something terrible happened to them and they wanted everyone to know about it.

Hmmm.  There is some truth to that. We sometimes become spectators to the Body of Christ and the struggles people go through.  We watch, we listen, we are glad God gave them victory, but we wonder what price glory?  Will my child die?  Will my husband cheat on me?  Will I get some kind of uncurable cancer?  Will I lose my limbs in a car accident?

The world is an unpredictable place and we wonder if we are next.  

So, why not enjoy a stroll down memory lane?  It's understandable, but if we keep focusing on the past, and resent we are no longer living that life, we can fall prey to what the Israelites did:  complaining (a lot), not being thankful for God's provision and missing  out on His presence. 

Isaiah, speaking of the Servant of the Lord, says, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out." (42:3)

If we are servants of the Lord, then we are not going to be broken or completely consumed by what challenges us.  Even His Servant, after a horrific death, rose back to life.  Jesus's sufferings did not last forever while He walked on earth.  He had moments of joy, peace in between the moments of sadness, tears and suffering.

Let's walk out into the desert with Israelites.  They have recently seen the amazing power of the Lord: Pharoah and all that he represents had "paid" put to his account.  The judgements were harsh at times, but his system had to come under God's dominion to show the Israelites that what Pharaoh represented is not true and is not welcomed in Yahweh's world. 

What did Pharaoh represent?

He was a god and his actions guaranteed that life would proceed as it always had.  He controlled the Nile, the crops, the sun rising and setting, and all that good came from his hand.  Even life and death. 

He wasn't going to share the stage with God in any way.  But nor was God: 

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Ex. 20:3-4)

In the Israelites' very recent past, they had watched God remove each aspect of their life in Egypt:  The gods were judged (each plague had a god behind it); their status as slaves was ended (they left Egypt as a free people, taking some of Egypt's wealth with them) and all that they had known was removed as they walked into the desert.

I am sure they were grateful.  At first.  Moses and the people sang a song of victory over Pharaoh and praised God for His mighty hand: 

"I will sing to the Lord, for an overflowing victory!
Horse and rider he threw into the sea!
The Lord is my strength and my power;
he has become my salvation.
This is my God, whom I will praise,
the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim.
The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name." (Ex. 15:1-3)

Take that, Pharoah! Take that slavery! Take that Egypt!

Good times.  Blessed times. Times when it was obvious God was with them.

Then we learn, right after this:

"Then Moses had Israel leave the Reed Sea and go out into the Shur desert. They traveled for three days in the desert and found no water. When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink Marah’s water because it was bitter. That’s why it was called Marah. The people complained against Moses, 'What will we drink?' Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord pointed out a tree to him. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet." (Ex. 15:21-25)

Welcome to the desert.  Three days is about the maximum that a human being can go without water, so they were at the brink of dying of thirst.  

That's the desert for you:  It takes us to the very brink of our faith, ourselves, and our thinking about how the world should work. We feel we are tottering at the edge. One more hour, one more day, more event, and we are going over into the abyss.

We then question those around us, for we feel as if we are the only ones going through this. When, in all reality, we are questioning God.

Moses is God's spokesperson, so the people's questions to him are really aimed at God: 

You brought us out here and we are dying of thirst.  We finally find water, and are you kidding me?  It's BITTER?  Is this some kind of joke (not trying to be disrespectful here, but whoa!)  Moses, we can't DRINK THIS.

Now, let's consider what the people are really thinking:

So, God.  Gotta have a talk here.  We are at wit's end.  The desert here is unrelenting.  The sun, the rocks, the mountains...dryer than bones.  We have been following this man You chose (no disrespect here, but we didn't choose him) and now we gather around this water (which we desperately need) and IT'S BITTER, GOD!  Yes, we know You may know that, but then why did You lead us here in the first place?

I know, I know.  We might not ever say things like this out loud, but the desert leads us very quickly into despair, because it seems, well, hopeless. 

But here's the irony of the past. We want to go back to the days when the water wasn't bitter, the sun wasn't that hot, and we could choose who we listened to and take advice from.  We had enough food, water and a place to live (literally or metaphorically) and we could count on life being pretty much the same from day to day.  No real surprises.  No jarring moments.  Just a kind of coasting.  Oh, and most importantly:

We really felt You were with us. You demonstrated Your power in so many ways:  You showed the Prince of this World who was Boss and didn't let him further torment us; You made a spectacular way over the things that impeded us--by answering our prayers; by giving us miracles, God-moments and God-appointments.  We saw lives changed and progress in our walk with You. Every day was another demonstration of Your mightiness, Your provision and active engagement in our lives. 

Yes.  So, here's the question that the desert asks us: When did God stop being God? Remember: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb. 12:8)  

"God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being,
that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?" (Number 23: 19)

Maybe our past seems so golden because we were way more aware of God working in our lives, or maybe the challenges were not so great that we could meet them ourselves.

Now, it seems God isn't as involved as He was, or the challenges are so great we can't meet them ourselves. 

Let's take a peek at how God answered the cries of His people: "Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink." (Ex. 15:25).

What wood had God thrown into your bitter water?

The cross. 

Next: 

"There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. He said, 'If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.'” (Ex. 15:26)

God wants us to remember where rebellion can take us:

"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today,' so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:

'Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.'

    

"Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." (Heb. 3:12-19)

Anguish is not rebellion.  Deep sadness is not rebellion.  But losing sight of God's faithfulness in the past and thinking He is not going to provide for us now, and then consequently growing cold in our love and trust in Him...that is the danger zone for us.  The danger zone of rebellion. 

God does not cease to work or make Himself known to us because we are in the desert.  He wants us to know even more deeply because of the desert just how much He is still with us.  Look how He refreshed His people after the bitter water experience: 

"Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water." (Ex. 15:27) 

They were still in the desert.

But so was God.

And so is God.