Striking the Rock

The experience of the desert is forever memorialized by placing manna:

in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. (Ex. 16:34-5).

The "Testimony" will later be applied to the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, and these tablets will later be placed in the ark, along with the jar of manna. [1]

Both signify God's provision:  The Ten Commandments provided moral sustenance, authored by God, to teach these former slaves how to be children of the one true God.  The manna provided physical sustenance, sent from God, to nourish and sustain these former slaves in their journey. 

Both are for nourishment and both are from God's hands.  Nothing in Eden came from Adam's efforts and nothing in the desert came from the people's efforts. It was God's plan from the very beginning that we are to rely solely on Him; what we have, who we are and where we go is from His hand.  We are stewards of His provision.  We are not its authors. 

So, God is providing a visual reminder of His provision with the manna in a jar.  The manna, because it was from God, never decayed.  It stayed in the jar, as pristine as the day it was gathered.  

God's law, embodied in the Ten Commandments, will never "decay" or lose its potency to guide a society.  It is as true as the day it was given to Moses.

So, now, despite the long list of God's saving, preserving and sustaining His people, we find them in the desert, grumbling...again.

But before we get all self-righteous, and say, "Oh, come on!  How many times does God have to miraculously help you before you get it?"

Hmmm.  Could God be asking us that same question?

So, let's take a closer look: 

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex. 17:1-7)

Once again, we see a familiar scene.  The people, terrified that this thirst they are feeling is going to be the death of them, start grumbling.  Again.  About the same thing. 

If you remember, in the Desert of Shur, they became thirsty and asked, "What are we to drink?" and grumbled against Moses. When Moses cried out to the Lord, He commanded Moses to throw a piece of wood into the water, and it became drinkable. The Lord tested His people by having them face a situation that required utter reliance on Him.  God through Moses told them that if they listened to God's voice, and did what was right is His eyes (by following His commands and decrees), they would remain free from diseases that He "brought on the Egyptians." (Ex. 15:24-26).

Then, not only did God provide them water, He brought them then to an oasis. (Ex. 15:27)

Now, they are in a new desert--the Desert of Sin--and here we are again.  Thirsty.  Grumbling. Accusing Moses that their exodus from Egypt will result in them dying out here.  

Same God.

Same power.

Same appointed leader.

Nothing has changed on the Lord's side of the equation.

Same seemingly perilous situation. 

Same need. 

Same reaction:  grumbling and accusations hurled at Moses. 

Sadly, nothing has changed on the people's side of the equation. 

Moses also seems to not be getting God's message.  He sounds afraid of how the people are responding, because he feels they will stone him. 

Wait!  Let's re-shoot the scene.  Let's fill it with people walking in faith, having learned God is sufficient for all they face!  

Action!

We are in another part of the desert, huh?

Yup.  It's about as bleak as the other one.

Huh, not to sound cheeky, but is there any other kind of desert?

Good point.  No water here either, huh?

Nope.  No water.  But, hey!  Remember when God provided the water the last time?  Moses hurled that wood into that bitter water and boom! We drank our fill!

It was so amazing.  But compared to what God did to Egypt--those ten plagues, saying adios to them Egyptians, and watching Pharaoh get his comeuppance, that was nothing.  Bitter to sweet water? That's just a blip in Yahweh's day. 

I know, I know!  This water thing--bitter or none to be found--it's just pocket change for God.  If He can bring that mighty empire to its knees, why would He send us out here to die?  Let's go ask Moses our next step.  Prayer?  Search party?  Moses hasn't done us wrong, because he is God's appointed leader.  Why would our mighty God use a man of questionable character and conduct?

Hey Moses!  What would you--I mean, God--like us to do?

Wow.  What a difference.  Gratitude is born out of experiencing God's provision and trusting His process, however slow or incomprehensible it may be, and we never cease to remember what He has done.   

Moses is instructed by God to go and strike a rock.  The same staff that he used to "strike" the Nile and turn it to blood, he will now use to strike a rock and bring forth water. 

Both impossible situations.

One: A vital river is turned to blood and instead of giving life, it causes decay and destruction.

Two: A rock, with no water anywhere around it, will bring forth water, enough for the people to drink. 

Interestingly, Moses gave the place two names, one meaning "testing," (Massah) and one meaning "quarreling" (Meribah).   Why?

The verse says, "because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, 'Is the Lord among us or not?'” (Ex. 17:7)

They quarrel about God's lack of provision and His absence from their woe and need.  As a result of this, they then question His very presence by asking if He's even around. They are doubting Him at the same time they are goading Him. 

Wow. 

The Word has a very stern warning of where the hardening of our heart can lead:  

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Heb. 12:14-15)

Boom.  Quarreling is the antithesis of living in peace with each other, and does not reflect the nature of God's character and those who call upon His name.  Quarreling leads to blindness, for we are so focused on ourselves and what we don't have, that we lose sight of His majesty and grace and what we do have. A pure heart sees God and His movement in our lives.  A quarreling heart only sees delay, absence, carelessness and disregard--all attributes contrary to the beauty of our God, but ones we start to believe God possesses.  

Then, with such a heart, we don't see God working.  (He is.)

Then, we don't see His answers to our prayers. (We are becoming too myopic to have the broader faith-driven than sight-driven perspective.)  

Our heart is slowly but surely growing bitter and we will cause others to stumble.  We give out tainted advice and reflect badly the One whose name we bear. 

Our bitterness, like the water the Israelites encountered, makes us spiritually unhealthy and we are poisonous to be around.

The antidote?

The cross.  It tells us that God is at work,  He loves us, He wants the best for us, that He is Lord of the hard times and His love is sacrificial.  

The cross takes out the bitterness out of our lives.  Yes, the desert is till bleak and hot, but we are not forgotten.

God provided His Son. Sin struck Jesus and what came out?  Love: undeserved, abundant and always present, ever ready to slake our spiritual thirst and bring us through even the hottest of deserts.

But we must strive to remember His ultimate provision--His beautiful Son--every day with gratitude and knowing that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.    

[1]  The NIV Study Bible. 1985. p. 111

 

 

 

 

The Anti-Eden

We are going to pull the camera back, and scan where we are.

The desert.

Let's look at it from an "anti-Eden" kind of place. One of the definitions of "anti-" is "against."  So, let's compare and contrast the two places.  Eden and the desert are obviously different: One could represent the world before sin entered the world and the other could represent the world after sin entered in.  But how different are they, really?

First up, let's consider water.  Eden had four rivers flowing through it.  In the Middle East, rivers provide life. The water gives life to the arid landscape.  Think of the Nile.  All around it you find desert, but alongside of it, it is a beautiful green. The river literally provides life for the people who depend on it to do so.

The great cities of Mesopotamia are along the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. In fact, "Mesopotamia" means: “'between rivers,' referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but the region can be broadly defined to include the area that is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq." [1]

Water is life.  So, you would expect to have water in the Garden of Eden.  First, as we approach the divine staging ground (pardon the pun) for the creation of humanity, we see water: "streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground."  In the next verse, you have this lovely contrast between water coming up from the ground and then God forming man from the "dust of the ground." (2:6-7)  Only when God breathes His breath into this "ground," molded and shaped into His image, do we see the first human. He is formed next to water. 

Then God takes this human and places him in a garden that He planted, not Adam.  The garden is replete with trees whose fruit will nourish the man, and the water makes that possible. (2:8-9)  

A river is responsible for "watering the garden," and as it flows from Eden, it splits into "four headwaters." (2:10)  So, the river provides not only abundance within Eden, but flows out to faraway places.  God's abundance is not static nor localized; He desires His creation to be abundant, reflecting His comprehensive provision.

The key word here is "provision."  The Garden of Eden is fully outfitted to provide for life.  And not just life, as in a kind of survival mode--but abundant life. 

But everything about Eden is from God's hand.  Humans did not create the garden, but they are called to tend it. Humans are placed in a rich environment where everything they need is there--but it is all from God's hand.

So, if Eden is the place where God and humanity dwell together before the Fall, the desert looks like a post-Fall-God's-judgement-has-fallen-on-us-in-a-big-way kind of place.  No water. No obvious provision.  No reaching out to grab a fruit off a tree.

Dust. Sand. Dirt. Quiet.

Yet, in the desert, are little Edens: oases. They have waterfalls, green plants, cool temperatures and are replenished by springs, with the water coming from far away mountains.

Is God reminding His children of that now distant Garden, that, despite our exile from it, how we are not exiled from God's provision? 

The desert speaks of His involvement, even where sin seems to have won. 

He still provides food:  manna.

He still provides water:  from bitter wells and rocks.

Water still flows, not in rivers, but in wadis, where the rainfall from faraway mountains rushes down to remind us how the desert and those who wander in it are not forgotten.

So, the desert and Eden are not opposites, but reminders of God's provision.  Everything that Eden and the desert have are from God, showing how He reaches out to meet and nourish His children.

No wonder Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life and the Living Water.  He chose two provisions that only could be supplied by God. The Bread of Life reminds us of the manna and the living water reminds us of the rivers flowing through Eden.  

He is from God's hand, providing us with salvation for our weary and sin-stained souls, and there is nothing we can do to provide for ourselves. 

God met His people in Eden.

God met His people in the desert. 

God met His people in their exile, their slavery, their misery, and in their longing for freedom. 

God met His people in the most excellent and beautiful provision of all:  His Son. 

There is no where His people go where He doesn't reach out, offering His provisions to strengthen us for the journey.

There is no where His people go where He doesn't reach out, offering His Son to forgive us and strengthen us for the journey. 

 

[1] "History of Mesopotamia," https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia
 

 

Get a Jar

God works in mysterious ways, to be sure, but He also has a process that is ultimately for our good.  We may not think so at the time, but once we slow down and think about how He has carried us so beautifully in the past, trusting Him should for the future should be a piece of cake.

Or should I say, "a piece of manna"?

We talked about God's provision in the previous blog.  God isn't just interested in having His children eat, as crucial as that is. He is providing His children with an identity based on Him, not on Pharaoh.  

Pharaoh gave them food, but it was to keep them strong as slaves to build his monuments. God gives  them food, but it is to keep them strong in believing that God is sufficient in every aspect of their lives, as His children.  

Jesus later will use the idea of manna to make an analogy.  It illustrates who He is, and how His body, broken for those who call upon His name, will nourish them spiritually, and prove that God is sufficient for every aspect of their lives, as His followers.  

So, let's explore the idea of manna for a bit.  

First of all, it's from God. The people didn't have to grow crops, mill the seed and use the flour to create it. In fact, this bread not only comes from heaven, it's God's response to their grumbling:  

Moses also said, "You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."

Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, 'Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.'" (Ex. 16:8-9)

Did you catch that?  God didn't show up because the people bowed their hearts in prayer and asked Him to provide.  He could have been furious with them, to the point of abandoning this "Let's Build Children Out of These Slaves" project, but He didn't.  (If anyone says that the God in the Hebrew Scriptures is cruel or vengeful, you might want to point out, and this is one of many examples, where God could have abandoned or struck down the Israelites, but He did not.) 

Then, when Aaron is telling the community what God is going to do, He shows up and tells Aaron how and what He is providing for the Israelites: 

While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.'"(Ex. 16:10-12)

God shows up even in the midst of our grumbling, discontentment and downright unbelief:  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8)

Yes, He is the God of overwhelming holiness, but He is equally a God of love.  Jesus showed us this very majesty and very intimacy on the Mount of Transfiguration.  He revealed His glory: bright, radiant and overwhelming.  But this glory then disappeared as quickly as it came, and Jesus was right back to being the humble rabbi from Nazareth, talking to His disciples. 

Then God makes a promise to the people via Moses that He will provide their nourishment. They can't.  Why?  There is nothing that the desert can provide to sustain the people.  Only God's provision, and not some pitiful rendition of it by human beings, must come from heaven alone. 

This is analogous to works. The world, like the desert, cannot provide what we need to sustain us.  We can try to gather worldly rituals, ideas, and organizational structures to further our walk, but they cannot nourish our hearts, because they were never meant to.  God alone does that.  Even if the world could provide some kind of deep soulful fulfillment, it wouldn't last, because the world and everything in it is temporary.  Only God and His Word last forever: 

The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever. (Is. 40:8)

Only a holy God can provide the spiritual manna as embodied in His Son, to satisfy the sacrifice that God requires for sin, with Christ's blood cleansing our hearts. Jesus showed us how paltry works are, for it was only the cross that satisfied God. 

Our works are like using Monopoly money to pay our bills.

The manna comes down from heaven, and the people are flummoxed by it: 

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other,  "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. (Rom. 16:13-15)

Hence, the "what is it?" is where the word "manna" comes from.  Jesus, too, as the Bread from Heaven, made people wonder who He was and what He was all about.  

Moses is very specific as to what the people must do to get the manna:

 Moses said to them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'''

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning." (Ex. 16:15-19)

If God provides, His rules are to be followed. We don't add to them, subtract them, or reframe them in ways that make sense to us. Even Paul, a man of seemingly infinite patience, becomes very concerned when the Galatians started adding works to God's provision of Jesus Christ, and not accepting that He  alone is enough.  He reminded them that no works are to be added to Jesus' death on the cross. 

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Gal. 3: 1-6)

Notice what happens when the people gather more manna than they are instructed to, when they go beyond the omer's worth: 

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. (Ex. 16:20)

Works stink.  Adding to the Christ's death on the cross corrupts its efficacy, and fills it with spiritual maggots, which you could argue is a more graphic way of saying, "pride."  Pride stinks to high heaven, because we take God's all-sufficient work on the cross and try to add our own ____________ to make it, what?  More understandable?  More culturally relevant?  More appealing? 

James makes it clear that works do not save us, but are the evidence God is working in us:  

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (James 2:14-20)

We don't add to the cross; we testify to the cross. 

Of course, because the Sabbath is to be kept holy by the people, they are not to gather any manna.  But some do, and surprise, surprise, it rots. (Ex. 16: 24-30)

Finally, one last comment.  I found this interesting: 

Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. (Ex. 16: 32-35)

The cross is an everlasting memorial to how God sent His only begotten Son to die for us.  Communion is where we remember that sacrifice, how Jesus's body was broken and His blood was shed to save us.  He used bread at the Passover and I cannot help think that it was to be a memorial analogous to the manna saved in the jar.  His body, broken for sin, is shown in the bread to remind us of what He did.  The manna in the jar likewise reminded the people of God's provision in the wilderness, and how they never went hungry.

When we have Christ, we do not go hungry.

The manna went hand in hand with the old covenant, and the Bread of Life went hand in hand with the new covenant. Thus, Jesus' words, "Do this in remembrance of Me" echoes deeply from the desert.  

  

From Punishment to Provision

Pharaoh was the one who provided to the Israelites what they needed to survive as his slaves. Everything came from his hand.  But what the Pharaoh gave, he could also take away:  life, food,  security and most of important of all, identity. 

Once the Israelites are in the desert, they mumble and grumble over what they do not have: life (what they were used to) food, ("pots of meat" and lots of it) security (starvation is imminent) and identity ("this entire assembly"). 

 "Assembly" ...really?  Not the children of Israel?  Clearly, they didn't see their glorious inheritance of the covenant between God and His people.  Egypt with its enormous structures, all extolling the virtues of the pharaohs, the gods and the glory that was Egypt, meant that their covenant with God seemed pretty lackluster:  

Them: Pyramids! 

Us:  We have this verbal contract spoken by God years ago to our distant ancestor named Abraham.

Them:  Big statues of the pharaohs, powerful and looking divinely smug!

Us:  Some guy named Moses shows up, and tells we are to be free and how our God is going to demonstrate not once, but many times, His superiority. 

Them:  Gods for every aspect of life, carved in stone, and looking divinely smug!

Us:  We have one God. He has revealed that He is enough and covers all the bases--weather, harvest, water, animals, life and death.  

Them:  We were slaves and yes, they tried to kill our babies, but hey, we got up every day, knowing who we were and who we were not!

Us:  Who are we now?  Children of Yahweh, who really showed us and Egypt who is mightier, but this desert thing is not very impressive.  Well, yes, we have food. And drink.  And Yahweh's presence.  And security. But...

God is cultivating trust in these former slaves.  He shows them time and time again that He is worthy of their trust with all He is providing.  Yes, Pharaoh provided, but with a whip, and a claim to deity that is utterly offensive to Yahweh, and oh yes, all of those gods...Basically, these gods are what humans think gods should be and what they should do; thus, they are made in man's image.

That's the way humans like it.  Remember, the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil went into our collective DNA, and we have recreated the world into something we think is accurate and explains what we hear, see and feel.

So our gods are just a version of a mightier us, and while we are afraid of them, we seek to control them with ritual and sacrifice.  Because we fulfill our part of the bargain, we count on them showing up and doing our bidding. 

But Yahweh, the one true God, operates on a level He must teach His children to recognize and understand. He shows His glory to the Israelites, not by punishment and oppression to inspire and maintain fear, but by provision.

This is God's modus operandi:  He provides for His children out of His character, which is centered on lovingkindness--the word for covenant, by the way.  God is demonstrating His covenant by His lovingkindness in how He continually provides for them in the desert.  

God could allow us to sink ever so slowly but surely into the mire of sin and its deception, but He seeks to put our feet up on the rock, enlarging our view and seeing the world through His perspective.  

In other words, God is constantly handing us the Tree of Life's fruit, and asking us to partake of it.  

Jesus used another analogy.  He is discussing manna and how it nourished the people, but they eventually died: 

"Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.'” (John 6:31-34) 

Then Jesus ups the ante on this spiritual analogy:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:47-51)

Now an uncomfortable part (God's words generally are): 

"The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.'” (John 6:52-58)

The people listening comment that "this is a hard saying." (6:60) and many leave Jesus as a result. 

But upon inquiring of the Twelve if they will leave as well, Peter responds: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (6:68-69) 

Jesus showed lovingkindness every time He provided for His disciples and His followers.  He gave them a new identity, from slaves to a ritualized religion, to becoming children of God. He demonstrated this provision with His teachings, His miracles and His love for their hungry souls. His ultimate provision would be His very flesh and blood, broken and poured out for the remission of sins and giving us a new life of freedom and forgiveness.

The manna eaten by the Israelites nourished them and enabled them to survive.  

But Jesus was saying His bread--His flesh, broken and sacrificed to give His people eternal life--would  nourish their spiritual DNA, recoding who they were.  He would provide wisdom and strength, enabling His children to longer be slaves to sin's deception. 

In other words, those who followed Jesus would eat from the Tree of Life. 

The same applies to us. Jesus' bread, His sacrifice of His body on the cross, is ours to partake of and be transformed from sin's slavery to walking as His children.  We, too, will eat from the Tree of Life.

But we, through Christ alone, must leave behind what Pharaoh--the world--says who we are.  

The World: Big, flashy and very alluring to our flesh!

Us:  We have fulfillment of all of God's promises in Jesus Christ, spoken by God years ago to our distant ancestor Abraham.

The World:  Look at all the world has, seated in power and authority and looking "divinely" smug!

Us:  The Messiah came to set us free. God demonstrated mightily that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  

The World:  "Gods" for every aspect of life--money, sex, power, indulgence and pleasure--inviting us to bend our knee and join in, so we, too, can be smug as we show off what we have and who we are!

Us:  One God. We only need Him--He fulfills every aspect of who we are, and transforms us to be what we were intended to be. 

The World: We are slaves and yes, the world tries to kill our souls, but hey, what a ride, huh? 

Us:  Who are now children of God.  He has triumphed over the prince of this world, for greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world. Christ is our food, our drink, and will never leave nor forsake us. We are secure in Him, and He stands by us.  

From punishment to provision:  What a holy ride, huh?

  

Children, Not Slaves

It's been a while! Thank you for your patience.  I went out of town and then celebrated Thanksgiving. I hope yours was a restful time with family and friends.  God is so good, and I love having a holiday that focuses on just that: being thankful for the bounty in our lives that He has provided.   

You can take the people out of Egypt, but it's hard to take Egypt out of the people. 

These former slaves were now God's new creation, and He was making sure that His people understood that. God doesn't just take your life and make it better--He gives you a new life with new values, and new ways of seeing the world with a new heart.  

The old heart, sent to you directly from Adam and Eve, is broken, corrupt and hostile to the things of God.  

But God is in the business of allowing us to start over.  We are not given a second chance in our old selves,  but we are transformed by choosing to follow Jesus and not continuing to follow our flesh. With His Spirit in us, we are born anew. If you think about it, He is allowing us to return to the Garden, metaphorically, where we walk and talk with Him in the cool of the day.  He has brought us into a new relationship through Christ by His death on the cross.

Sometimes we watch the people wandering in the desert, and wonder, Why didn't they get it? 

It takes God time to recraft slaves into His sons and daughters.  We may ask Jesus into our heart and that is our moment of freedom, just like the Red Sea drowning Pharoah and his army, and the people no longer in danger of being captured and sent back to Egypt as slaves.

But that moment of new birth begins a period of recrafting, transforming and teaching us what our new status is and how we are to operate. 

Look what Paul says:

• "Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life. If we’ve become united with him in a death like his, certainly we will also be united with him when we come back to life as he did. We know that the person we used to be was crucified with him to put an end to sin in our bodies. Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin. The person who has died has been freed from sin." (Rom. 6:1-7)

• "So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir." (Gal. 4:7)

• "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:15)

The note in Bible Gateway says for Romans 8:15: "The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture..."  

Talk about a change, a transformation into an entirely new status, with all of the rights and privileges thereof!   

You notice that, just like the children in the desert, we are in our own desert of slavery to sin.  Oh, we know who the Pharaoh is--Satan--for he never ceases to remind us that we are his, for we are enslaved to our sin nature, to our flesh, with no redemption possible. 

Wrong. 
 

God redeems us and makes us His children and as His children, we are His heirs.  To what?  All He has for us without interference from our previous status.

Yes, our sin natures asserts itself.  Yes, Satan is constantly trying to tear down our new status with his accusations of, "You are not good enough for that!" or "You are such a poser--if everyone knew the true you, they would see just how much of a hypocrite you really are!" 

If our status was dependent on what we did, we'd be back to works:  Trying to do, do, do to keep earning God's favor.

Wrong. 

Works--the doing--is not what God bestowed on us. He didn't say, "Here's some new things you can do for Me."  A slave is still a slave, no matter what he or she does.  But God gave us a new status, a new  position that is not dependent on what we do, but who we are in Christ:

 
"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." (Rom. 11:6)

Boom. 

Slaves has no choice.  They can be good slaves, a recalcitrant ones, a rebellious ones or obedient ones, but their status does not change.

But in Christ, we have a choice:  We can love Him, serve Him, seek forgiveness from Him, remember Him as our Father, our Savior, our God, and walk with a heart set free.

Satan's time is running out, but he still tries to frighten us with his army chasing after us, and sometimes our back will be to the sea.

But we are children of God, so why wouldn't He part it?

Jesus reminded people just how good the Father is:

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:9-11)

God expects and empowers us to act as His children, for He is rich in kindness and mercy to those whom He loves.  

That is one of the reasons, I sincerely believe, why the Israelites' behavior infuriated God:  They still were acting as slaves, and not as His children.

Hence, the Law.  The Law was one gigantic corral that keep evil out and protected His children from within.  It didn't save them but guided them into acting like God's children, and not as slaves anymore.  When they reverted back, by grumbling, creating an idol and engaging in immoral behavior, God could point to the Law and say, 

I told you how I want you to act.  You are not to act like this--only slaves act that way!  You are no longer slaves but My chosen people!

Do we exasperate God with our failure to see, act and model our status as His children? 

I wonder, Why don't we get it? 

  

 

 

 

No Longer Slaves, But What Then?

Let's ponder a moment our former Egyptian slaves.  They are wandering in the desert, grumbling and stumbling, questioning God and driving Moses to distraction. 

Slavery is a very contradictory state to be in. Our Israelites were subjected to violence, stifled in liberty, demeaned to inferiority and driven to extremity. 

The lash, the threats, the deprivation, the fear, the loss... plagued them every day. Some slaves had it better than others, to be sure, and how they were treated by the master may have mitigated their suffering, but at the end of the day, they were still slaves. 

They were not Egyptians. They would never be Egyptians. 

And yet, the Israelites as slaves were given the basics for human existence:  food, shelter, clothing and potable water. 

Strange, isn't it?  These former slaves were at the bottom of society. You could argue that the slave masters and ultimately Pharaoh had an incentive to keep them alive, because they needed their labor, so they provided the bare minimum. These former slaves were taken care of, not out of human kindness, but because they were needed.  Not wanted.  Needed.

So, here we are in the desert with these former slaves, wandering with them and watching them.

Did they miss the lash?  No.

Did they miss the violence?  No.

Did they miss the food, potable water, clothing and shelter?

You betcha.  

They came into the desert, redeemed from slavery, but because slavery meant getting the basics, they feared they would not survive.

They complained about not having potable water to drink.  The bitter water at Marah made them snipe at Moses.  

God stepped in through Moses and made the water potable.  

They sniped at Moses about the lack of food.  Look what they say:

"The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 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.'” (Ex. 16:1-3)

(You failed to mention that the slave master was just a few feet away, watching you and making sure you weren't planning an escape or some kind of revolt. The lash was equally only a few feet away.)

So, let's invade the thoughts of these people: 

Slaves get water to drink.  Check.

We are no longer slaves, so no water?

Slaves get food to eat. Check.

We are no longer slaves, so no food? 

Slaves are provided with clothes.  

We are no longer slaves, so will our clothes wear out?

Look what God says about their clothing: "Yet the Lord says, 'During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.'" (Deut. 29:5)

God was not a new slave master.  He wanted their obedience not out of fear, but out of love for Him.  He didn't replace their former masters; He was their Shepherd, who led them as sheep.  

This new radical status as His chosen people meant they were led, not driven: 

"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people." (Ex. 13:21-22) 

His chosen people were now under His care, not subjected to violence, not stifled in liberty, not demeaned to inferiority and not driven to extremity. 

But they didn't understand just how dramatically their status had changed.  

Now, in the desert, they were learning a whole new way to see themselves. They, while still in Egypt, saw themselves as slaves who were turning the tables on their masters and Pharaoh, for their God was mightier!  Take that, Pharaoh!  Take that, all you gods! 

No.  God's purpose for redeeming them was so much more than a regime change. What then? 

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deut. 7:6)

"The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments." (Deut. 7:7-9)

So, we are not slaves. Check.

But what are we?

We will explore how God was molding these people into their original purpose--guiding, reminding and transforming them to a new status:  Men and women who will be priestly representatives of the one true God. 

We, too, were former slaves.  

Our slave master was sin. 

Our Pharaoh was Satan. 

We don't exchange God for a new master.  

He is now our Father.  Our Shepherd.  Our Savior.  

 

What a Week, Huh?

I have been told I have a prophet's heart, which is a nice way of saying I am a pessimist.

But I am not a pessimist for the sake of being a bringer of doom and gloom.

I have spent most of my adult life studying the Holocaust.  Germany was one of the most liberal in terms of laws in Europe regarding the Jews.  If any nation was going to turn on them, many Jews thought it would be France.  They would have been shocked if you had told them that not only Germany would repudiate them but would build places whose sole purpose was to murder them.

It's hard not to be a pessimist when you are a history nerd like me.  Human beings don't fundamentally change from age to age, and to think we are enlightened, as compared to everyone else who has gone before us, is arrogant and prideful, and looking for a fall. 

I am studying Bible history, and exploring the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  I am looking at their leadership and wondering if we can draw any lessons from what the Bible says about them. The kings of Judah and Israel, who did "evil in the sight of the Lord" were constantly reminded by God's prophets what God expected of them and how to live a life that reflected Him. The kings and the priests had the Mosaic Law that left no societal or personal stone unturned as to what to do and how to live as God's chosen people. 

The kings' response to the prophets? Ignore them.  Persecute them. Try to kill them. Why?  The prophets reminded them in no uncertain terms that God knew exactly what they were doing, and how they were leading His people astray.  

God always wants to bless, rather than judge.  But when people and their leaders are constantly disobedient and God's decrees are violated, He will respond. 

What were the leaders and the people doing?  Compromising what God had set their nation aside to do:  To be a blessing to the nations around them.  What did the leaders do?  They mixed the worship of the one true God with the local gods, built temples to them or allow the places of worship that were already there to remain.

In other words, they started looking a lot like their neighbors. 

They led the people into thinking that some how, some way, Yahweh's prohibition against idolatry, polytheism and depravity were not all that bad.  The leaders compromised their covenantal mission and encouraged their people to follow along. The people enjoyed their freedom to sin, with their leaders' approval and the leaders enjoyed their freedom to sin because they had the support of the people.

Was everyone joining in?  No.  I am sure many Jews looked in horror at the rampant idolatry and sin that accompanied it, and walked away, not wanting to displease Yahweh. 

God promised over and over to restore His errant people if they sought Him: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The hope of God's mercy was always there: 

    "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
    For the Lord is a God of justice.
    Blessed are all who wait for him!" (Is. 30:18)

When we seek the Lord, He is quick to receive us as we confess our sins.  

That is true for a nation as well.

So why was I pessimistic?  I assumed we had gone too far down the road of disobedience.  Or that the whole democratic process would be subverted and the people's voice would be silenced by political abuse of our system. In other words, we would never see a legitimate election in this country again.

And here we are. 

But we must consider:  

    "Praise the Lord.

    Praise the Lord, my soul.
    I will praise the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
    Do not put your trust in princes,
    in human beings, who cannot save.
    When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.
    Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God." (Ps. 146:1-5)

We, as individuals, must search our hearts, and ask where we have contributed to the decline of the nation. God is always ready to cleanse and forgive, for that is always His desire for His people: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) 

Jeremiah also warns us against placing our trust in leaders and not in the Lord:

    "This is what the Lord says:
    'Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
    who rely on human strength
    and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
    They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
    with no hope for the future.
    They will live in the barren wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salty land.

    But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
    They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
    Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
    Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.

    The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
    But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
    I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.'” (17:5-10) 

Yes.

We may breathe a sign of relief for the change in the White House. But we are to look to the Lord for His restoration in our nation and in ourselves.

We must not think that compromise with the world's values is somehow acceptable; you must ask the Holy Spirit, every day, "How can I reflect Jesus today?"

Revival.

Renewal.

Restoration.

Repentance.

That is what we all need.

That is what our nation needs.

We are at a crossroads in this country. If we go for what is acceptable, easy and not in line with His Word, we can expect the same reaction God had with His chosen people.

This country will be unrecognizable in ten years if we choose poorly.

If You Are Exceptional, You Must Be Acceptable...to God

With the election looming large, I have been thinking about American Exceptionalism.

I had to look that phrase up, because it seems to invoke a lot of arguing and finger pointing. Here is a good operating definition from the Britannica: 

"American exceptionalism, idea that the United States of American is a unique and even morally superior country for historical, ideological, or religious reasons. Proponents of American exceptionalism generally pair the belief with the claim that the United States is obligated to play a special role in global politics." [1]

This definition played out when we landed on the moon in 1969.  As a kid, it seemed that there was nothing we couldn't do as a nation.   

My history books seem to imply that when we made our way out West, it was one vast empty plain.  I  remember one Indian attack, on a poor hapless woman evangelist.  Imagine my surprise when I learned about the complexities existing between native peoples and westward expansion.  Dances With Wolves was a revelation. 

Slavery?  We focused on the Emancipation Proclamation. That was about it. 

Back then, it was easy to believe America got it right every time, or at least, rarely got it wrong. 

I am not here to bash America.  It has become very trendy to point out all of our faults, seriously flawed beliefs and failures. That is why Trump seems so out of place in the public arena for a lot of people.  His beliefs about America echo what I heard growing up and what I read about in my history books.

Was what I learned all wrong?  No, I don't believe so.  I think a lot of it was not discussed, because it didn't fit the idea of American Exceptionalism, so it was left out.   I perceived that Viet Nam seem to be a mistake, only because my dad was angry about it. We consoled ourselves with the thought that at least we got out with what Nixon called "Peace with honor."  The war and its destructive effects on our  soldiers and America's confidence in itself took decades to heal, but we carried on with our definition of our greatness. 

I remember a college professor who taught exactly the opposite of what I had been taught.  When I asked him about this, he said, "I am teaching the other side."  I hadn't really thought there was another side. 

Yes, there was.  

The Jewish people, the chosen people, had that same sense of destiny and being special. They were to be a blessing to all nations, as God told Abraham, who had been willing to offer up his son: 

"I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Gen. 22:17-18) 

Why did God chose the Jewish people? He tells them:

"The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments." (Deut. 7:7-9)

For what purpose were they chosen?   God tells Moses: "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” (Ex. 19:5-6) 

Priests point to God, teach about God and live in such a manner that people may know about Him by watching how His people live. 

Peter takes this idea and applies it to include those who follow Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9) 

Imagine then, the day Jesus and His disciples were in Jerusalem for the Passover.  They stood in utter awe of the Temple.  It was a mind-boggling and breathtaking architectural achievement.  But more than that:  God resided there.   

God's house.  Chosen people.  Exceptional among the nations. 

But He blew them away:

"Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 'Do you see all these things?' he asked. 'Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.'” (Matt. 24:1-2)

I am sure the disciples were dumbfounded.  They wanted to soften this statement by Jesus, and put it in its larger (read: future) context--someday, far away from now (the disciples were hoping) and they asked Him to explain.  The picture He painted was scary, but seemed far off... They must have breathed a sigh of relief.  Maybe, they thought,  Jesus was just being metaphorical.  He loved to teach in parables, after all.  

But it was only about 40 years in the future. 

What is known as the Great Revolt, where some Jewish radicals, disgusted with the Romans, rose up in Galilee in 66 AD.  For several years, many uprisings occurred, and the Roman army, in characteristic fashion, crushed these revolts.  By 70 AD, the Romans went in without mercy into Jerusalem after a siege, and threw down the walls of the mighty Temple just as Jesus predicted.  The army looted the Holy Place and Holy of Holies. They killed or enslaved the Jewish people.  There were a few more revolts, and by the 130's, the Jews were exiled altogether from Israel, and would not return until 1948.

It was catastrophic. 

This echoes the destruction of Israel (the northern kingdom) by the Assyrians in 732 BCE and the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, resulting in their captivity in Babylon for 70 years. 

There, God allowed pagan nations to punish His people for their disobedience of His laws and decrees.  They disregarded their exceptionalism and took on the practices of their pagan neighbors: worshipping idols and engaging in their practices of sexual immortality and child sacrifice. They were no longer acting as priests to the nations.   

Or, as in the Great Revolt, they grew weary of their oppression and took matters into their own hands, ignoring God and assuming He'd just get on board once they started.  They believed in God, but believed even more in their just cause. 

Pagan practices. Disloyalty to God. Failure to act and behave in a manner that behooved the chosen of God. It's as if God said, You so admire pagan practices, pagan ways and pagan kings.  You will come out from under My eagles' wings, and live, die and be scattered by those people you so admire and emulate. 

Their exceptionalism demanded they be acceptable to God. 

And they weren't.

Are we a kind of Israel?  The American exceptionalism definition seems to have an implied affinity with Israel--that we have been chosen by God. 

But is our exceptionalism being lived out, or are we imitating the ways and behaviors of nations that have turned away from God?  Are we taking matters into our own hands, trying to be progressive, savvy and not burdened with conventional morality? 

There were certainly Jews who did not go along with what their kings were doing and how their neighbors were acting. They listened to the prophets who warned the nation and tried to make changes.

But overall? 

God used His word, His prophets and an occasional king to try to turn the people back to Himself.  But the people ignored Him.  Judgment came. This sad biblical history of blessing, descending into disobedience, ignoring warning and then receiving judgment is there for one reason:  To teach humanity that God takes very seriously that nations uphold His morality. 

Micah put it so well: 

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 

And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God." (6:8) 

The bar was set higher for His chosen.

We have set the bar higher for our nation, seeing it as exceptional. 

Consequently, are we acting in ways that are acceptable to God? 

[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-exceptionalism

The Everyday is So...Well, Every Day

"The problem with everyday," my mom used to say, "It's, well, so every day."

That right there is life in the desert: It's day by day, every day, with a level of hopelessness that your life will be like this.  Forever.

Sometimes it's hour by hour. 

It's hard, to be sure, but that doesn't permit us to slip into grumbling--which is kind of hidden rebellion against God.  

Think of it this way:  Have you ever known someone who will not tell you out right what is wrong, but will say something under their breath, just loud enough for you to hear it?  They won't come right out and tell you--they want you to know just enough, and because they are hurt or angry, they want you to fill in the missing pieces and then understand their hurt or anger.  Or they get someone else to tell you, for the person is still not willing to confront you directly; they think if someone else tells you, you will go to that person and inquire as to what is wrong.

The person, all the while, is still hurt or angry as they send their "envoys" out. That anger or hurt then begins to transform into bitterness, because the person is not getting the results they think they deserve. Hebrews 12:15 really captures this descent into bitterness and its consequences: "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."

Wow.  By not seeing God's grace, bitterness ensues.  Why?  Because you think that God doesn't (a) care (b) blesses everyone but you (c) appreciate all you've done (d) all of the above.

Look how Paul frames the argument: 

"Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: 'The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.' We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!" (1 Cor. 10:6-12)

What a minute, here.  I am not an idolater, so that passage is rather irrelevant to me. I don't test Christ.  Yeah, I grumble--sometimes--but I am still here, so I obviously didn't attract the attention of the destroying angel."

OK, that's fair.  But when testing (the same word for "temptation") comes, how do you respond?  Grumbling?  Despairing?  Christian on the outside, rebellious soul on this inside? No comes the most quoted part of this passage: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (1 Cor. 10:13)

Testing tempts you to dive deep into yourself, and seek out your own resources.

That's idolatry.  When you trust and then are loyal to something or someone other than God, your idol has taken you away from sitting at God's feet and waiting on Him to show you the way. 

Some of us want Christ to show Himself, in a mighty way, because we have lots and lots of faith, and His delay means we need to muster more. We determine the how and why of His showing up with our presumptuous declarations of faith. That's testing Christ.  It's the "if you really loved me, You'd do this!"  We demand a response rather than a relationship.

And we grumble.  To others.  Under our breath.  Disguised as conversation.   Disguised as concern.  Just wanting to vent and really not get to the root of our situation: We are growing rebellious and bitter, despite all appearances to the contrary. 

Back to the desert.  The daily grind gets to us at times, and we start to complain about God's delay and the monotony of the situation. The root of bitterness is slowly but surely twisting around our heart. 

What's amazing is how God will show up despite our grumbling, because He loves us: 

"Then Moses told Aaron, 'Say to the entire Israelite community, Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’

"While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

"The Lord said to Moses, 'I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them,  At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.'

"That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was." (Ex. 16: 9-15) 

Way more important is not the manna, but that God showed up!  The manna was amazing, yes, but even more so, the Lord showed up (again, by the way--the Exodus is a testimony to God' numerous appearances!) and then came the bread.

Jesus showed up to answer the cry of our rebellious/aching/lost heart and then He offered Himself as the Bread of Life.

Maybe it's not the every day of the desert and our struggles in it; it's focusing on the desert and not seeing the One who shows up with love and His healing presence.

If we are not careful, our bitterness will blind us to God's appearances in our desert. Not because we've demanded it, or expect it, but because He loves us and has our best interests at heart. 

Trusting Him:  Isn't that what will truly get us through the every day of the desert?  Yes, manna is fine, but isn't our true hunger going to only be met by Him? 

Boxes

Sometimes, in our effort to be spiritual, we store our lives in neat, tidy and separate boxes. We go to church, pray, go to a Bible study, tithe, pray some more, and hang out with a Christian sister or brother for some not-just-on-a-Sunday fellowship. 

All well and good.

But the rest of our lives is in other boxes. We have our financial box; it's our money, after all, and we spend it as we choose, right?  We pay our bills and then whatever is left over is ours. We only consider the spiritual aspect of our money on Sundays mornings (or maybe not even then--or we pop a fiver into the plate and call it good). 

We have our media box. We watch, listen and read whatever sparks our interest or what we want to keep up on.  We really don't think about spiritual implications of what we are putting into our hearts and minds.  Sometimes we watch or read religious teachers, almost as a substitute to spending time in the Word.

We have our family box.  We spend time together, and that is very important.  We take our children to church and then whip out our cell phones during the sermon--the implicit message we are sending is that if the sermon isn't interesting then we can use other means to keep our attention.  We try to eat dinner together, or maybe, we all sit around on our phones, with a few exchanges here and there.  Maybe we do a fine job with our family, watching movies and going places.  But other than going to church, do we spend time talking about God?

Then we have our work box. We work and come home exhausted, upset or just plain wanting the day to be over.  We plop on the couch and check out.  We play video games, spend time on our phone or just want to be left alone.  We may even love our job, but it takes a lot out of us, either because we are doing the work of two people, or because our society is so rude and demanding, that we are drained by our interactions with others.  The last thing we want to do when we come home is be social.

Our lives look like a storage unit filled with lots of boxes; some are labelled and some are not. Then we close the unit's door. We forget what each box contains. 

Finally, there is our social box:  How do we process the news swirling around us, and what do we believe? We can be real nice to people until someone mentions something political and/or societal, and BOOM! we are free to be as nasty, aggressive, gossipy or antagonistic as we want to be, because it's OK to let fly these days on certain subjects.  We tone it down at church and smile when someone says something we disagree with, but on the way home, watch out.  Our words are nothing but judgments on the person we talked to--how could they be that stupid/naive/wrong?  We don't think that way...why should they?

OK, let's tie this in to the desert experience of the Israelites in Exodus.  We see them, in chapter 15, complaining that (a) there is no water and (b) the water they find is bitter.  

God directs Moses to toss a piece of wood into the water, and it becomes potable. God then warns the people that provision from Him is based on obedience to Him: "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. 15:25-26)

God is saying, in effect, Don't put Me into a box of your own choosing. I am the God of everything: food, drink, heat, wanderings, joy, and provision. Don't act like pagans.  You are My Chosen People, and I want you to act like it.  Otherwise, you lose My protection, and you will be down range of all sorts of afflictions and trouble. 

Jesus warned the people of avoiding the same pitfall: "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matt. 6:7-8)

The Israelites, after receiving water from the rock and camping at Elim, where water and shade were in abundance, (Ex. 15:27) they went right back into putting God into boxes:  

Box 1:  He did lots of wonder-working signs to vanquish Pharoah, his gods and his society, but that was then, this is now. 

Box 2:  He provided water, true, with the wood thing, but God can only work in small increments of mightiness and His power doesn't reach into right now, right here, where we are. 

Box 3:  Hey, the food we brought with us is dwindling, and we feel panicky. God provided before, yes, but that was then and this is NOW! 

They begin to grumble: 

"The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 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.'” (Ex. 16:1-3) 

Really?  But if we don't unbox our life with God, and let all of what God has done/does stay right in front of us, we see only limitations, one-off's and things happening back then, but not now: 

Sure He did it back then, but He won't do it this time. 

God, because of His holy character, is the same yesterday, today and forever.  As He did with the water, He will do with the food: 

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.'” (16:4-5) 

It's not that God is giving them random instructions:  He wants the people to unbox and look at all He has done, and will continue to do.  He also wants the people to understand that His provision is commensurate with their obedience:    

"So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, 'In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?' Moses also said, 'You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.'” (16:6-8) 

Boom!  There it is:  Their grumbling is against God. 

Our grumbling is against God.

They put His provision into a box, stored it away, and now in their forgetfulness, they accuse Him of inconsistency and the failure to provide. 

Whoa. 

We may never admit it, but we do the same thing.

Solution? It's time to clear out the storage unit.   

    

Grumble, Grumble, Toil and Trouble

We are following the Israelites, and if you ever wonder why something is in the Bible, it's because human nature does not fundamentally change, and God wants history to teach us that fact. The second thing we need to realize is how the Bible is pointing to Jesus.  So, not only do we learn about how broken we human beings really are, but how much we need a Savior.

How often do people say, "Well, why didn't the Jewish people get Jesus?"

"Why doesn't that person just do ahead and accept Christ?"

"Can't she see how sinful her life is?"

It's a Pharisee moment. How so?  We are recasting the person's predicament, attitude or desires into our own frame of reference.  When the Pharisees interrogated Jesus, they had already decided that He was not who He claimed to be and they wanted Him to discredit Himself with His answers to their questions. Their attitude was, at its core, 

Well, We would never talk to such despicable sinners! Why does He even bother?  He should be in the synagogue, studying the Torah with us, not fraternizing with people God clearly disapproves of. We stand with God.  He should be, too.  

We do the same thing.  In other words,

"I would have accepted Jesus in His day."  (Are you sure?  He made claims about His equality with His Father that you may have found blasphemous or at a minimum, very unsettling.)

"I accepted Christ.  Why can't he?" (Are you him?  Do you know his inner story? His life?)

"I saw my sin."  (You saw your sin?  Wasn't it the Holy Spirit who pointed it out to you, and perhaps it was many, many times before you truly saw your condition for what it was? How long did He work with you, revealing the saving grace of Jesus and the depth of your sin before you responded?)

When we minimize the other person's life and superimpose our responses over theirs, we start down the road to grumbling.

Yes, grumbling.

Let's get a definition from an online dictionary of the word: "the action or fact of complaining in a bad-tempered way." 

"Bad-tempered" is not what God wants to see or hear in His people. 

Let's define it from a Hebrew perspective: "The word in the Hebrew that is used here is layan which basically means to remain or stay. It is a refusal to move forward out of lack of faith and receiving divine instruction. I would give this a rendering of worry or fretting. Worry is nothing more than a lack of faith and refusal to receive divine instruction." [1]

Let's meet up with our wandering Israelites: 

"The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 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.'” (Ex. 16:1-3).

OK. The people are now thinking about how things used to be, and grumbling about it. Why? Wait for it: the lack of food.  These are the same people who saw God do awe-inspiring miracles.  Not once, not twice, but over and over again. 

OK, you Israelites:  Let's review. Life in Egypt was acceptable, because you had food?  Let me highlight the choice words.  How about:

• "Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 'Look,' he said to his people, 'the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.' So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly." (Ex. 1:8-14) 

Doesn't sound like Disneyland, does it?  Let's keep going.  How about this:

• "The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 'When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.'” (Ex. 1:15-16)

Great. But because of the fecundity of the Hebrews, harassing the midwives wasn't enough.  Pharoah brought his own people into it: 

• "Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: 'Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.'” (Ex. 1: 22)

Awesome. You now had a society focused on ferreting out little Hebrew babies and murdering them.

Moses grows up, having divinely evaded this decree and we meet him outraged by his people's brutal treatment: 

• "One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, 'Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?'  The man said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?' Then Moses was afraid and thought, 'What I did must have become known.'” (2:11-14)

Were the men afraid of retaliation from their overlords and so turned on Moses?  He didn't look like a slave, nor acted like one. Did they think, 

Why would some Egyptian-looking guy come to the aid of us slaves?  Is he a spy, keeping track of what we're doing, ready to report back to whoever sent him? We'll be punished, that's for sure!

God saw the violence, the hurt, the anger and the exhaustion of His people:

• "During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them." (Ex. 2:23-25) 

Not only did God see His people's suffering, He appointed a savior who He would use to liberate them. He chose Moses and spoke to him from a bush on fire, burning but not being consumed.  Just like the Israelites:  They were in the fire of slavery, but they were not going to be consumed: 

• "The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.'” (Ex. 3:7-10) 

Rescue. Deep understanding of misery. A new place to go where life will be better. Seeing the oppression. Sending a savior.

This is God's agenda from the word go.  He heard, He acted and He delivered His people with a beautiful display of miracles through His chosen leader. 

Does this pattern, by the way, ring any bells?  

God hears our cry.  He understands deeply our misery.  He desires to take us to a place that is new and free from slavery to sin.  He sees how oppressed we are by our sin, and He sent a Savior.

But once in the desert, the people actually thought their former life was better. 

Really?

This is the power of sin in our lives, that we once we face conflict, deprivation, or anything else that pushes hard on our faith, we begin to think back... Maybe my life back then wasn't so bad.  Well, at least I had ______________.  

Now, if we are not careful, we will start to grumble.  Grumbling stops the process of us trusting God, because it makes us sit down in the road of self-pity and acrimony towards God.  In other words, we take a bit handful of narcissism and shove it into our mouth.

Then, with its bitter taste on our tongue and our soul feeling empty, we fail to remember all of God's mercy, love, miracles and presence in our lives.  

Anguish, pain, sorrow and a feeling of abandonment, as painful as these emotions are to express, we are still conversing with God.

Grumbling means we have stopped talking to Him, yet demand He still talk to us. 

In His love and mercy, He keeps moving in our lives but grumbling can become a way of life, if we are not careful.  

It happened to Israelites.

It can happen to us. 

 

[1] https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2024/04/hebrew-word-study-grumble-lavan/

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.