Just as the Lord had foretold, Jacob and his family entered Egypt just 70 people strong, and then after the death of Joseph and the Pharaoh he served, the people of Israel were enslaved.
After the 400 years God had foretold would be the length of their slavery, the people cried out to the Lord. He heard them and sent Moses to Pharaoh with the instructions to “let My people go”.
You know the story. Pharaoh refused, so the Lord sent 10 plagues on Egypt, each one worse than the last, with the last being the death of the firstborn of every family in Egypt, while the Lord “passed over” all those of His people who had sprinkled blood on the doors and lintels. (The Passover is still remembered yearly to this day just as the Lord commanded.)
During that terrible night, Pharaoh finally summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested.”
Not only did the Lord fulfill the promise of deliverance from slavery that He had made to Abraham, He also gave them favor with the Egyptians, so that they left with articles of silver and gold and clothing – fulfilling that same promise to Abraham that they would come out “with great possessions”.
If you know the story, you know that Pharaoh had a change of heart and pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea where God parted the waters so the Israelites could go through on dry ground. The Egyptians followed and lost their lives when the waters were released.
Immediately, we read in Exodus 15:32, the people of Israel faced their first desert experience – they ran out of water, and the only water they could find was bitter, so they immediately grumbled against Moses. The Lord made the water sweet, and then led them to Elim, where there was an oasis with plenty of drinking water and a place to rest and be refreshed.
God led a family of 70 into the land of Egypt where He protected and provided for them – even though their time there would include 400 years of slavery! BUT now, He had delivered and led out of Egypt a NATION that had grown to nearly 2 million people!
They were united by their common history, their common location, their common occupation, and their common desert experience – hard and cruel slavery.
I was wondering this week what kind of witness for God there had been among them throughout those years in Egypt.
Undoubtedly there was a verbal, historical witness. They had probably all heard of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and the promises God made to them that included this current generation as well. Those promises must have been a huge encouragement during those years of slavery. God had promised Abraham that their slavery WOULD end and then He would lead them to the Promised Land.
There also would have been the verbal witness of faith that went beyond just ancestral history, to a trust and commitment in the God who made the promises. We read about the faith of various individuals in this time in Israel's history in the New Testament book of Hebrews 11, verses 22; 23-24; and 29.
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones (to carry them to the land of promise and bury them there)”.
“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for 3 months after he was born, because they saw that he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”
“By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.”
There was a godly influence in Israel, although the nation as a whole still had a lot to learn about God, and what He required of them as He worked in and through them to fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.
His plan was for them to be:
- A witness for Him, by their lives and words, to the idolatrous nations around them as they followed the one, true, living God – to make God known
- The guardians of His Word – first verbal, and then written. It’s because of the faithful preservation of God’s Word by the Jews that we know God and His plan of redemption from the Old Testament today!
- The nation through whom God’s Redeemer, Messiah, would come
When they left Egypt, they were FAR from being that nation. So their desert experiences were designed by the Lord to accomplish His purposes in and through them.
God uses OUR desert experiences for the same purpose – to reveal Himself to us and to those around us, to make us people of The Word, and disciples of the Lord Jesus. He works in us individually, and as the church of Jesus Christ.
EXODUS 16: 1-3
Two months later after the account at the end of Exodus 15, the Israelites are back in the desert again.
There, the whole community grumbled against Moses/Aaron his brother saying:
· “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!”
How contagious complaining is! This wasn’t just one or two disgruntled squeaky wheels, this was the entire community!
We are quite a nation of complaining people ourselves! If you’re not quite sure of that, take a minute to write down one or two things you complained about just this morning!
We complain about our cable service (or lack thereof), of having to wait on line or in traffic. We complain about the food or the service when we go to a restaurant. We complain about taxes (what’s NOT to complain about there!), politicians, the president, Republicans and Democrats, the price of gas, the IRS, hot flashes, not getting enough sleep, the noisy neighbors - and on and on.
And we Christians do our own share. We complain about our pastor, our church, and our brothers/sisters in Christ.
- Can you remember the last nice thing you said about, or to, your pastor? How about to your elders, or your children’s Sunday school teachers, or youth leaders, or the youth themselves?
- How about the last critical thing you said about them? Can you remember that?
- It’s no longer “clergy appreciation month”, but it’s never too late or inappropriate to speak a word of encouragement to our pastor, our leaders, our teachers. Maybe it’s time to make a phone call or send a card and tell them how much we appreciate them!
Apparently, we in the US are not the only ones who complain. My husband passed along something someone sent him on e mail. It was an actual answering machine recording from a school in Queensland, Australia.
You know how they go, you dial the number, and then hear the options. Here were the school’s options:
- If you are calling to lie about your child’s absence – press 1.
- If you are calling to make excuses for why your child isn’t doing his homework – press 2.
- If you are calling to complain about what we do – press 3
- If you are calling to swear at staff members – press 4
- If you’re calling to ask why you didn’t get certain information that has already been enclosed in your newsletter or in several fliers that have been sent to you – press 5
- If you want to use US to raise your child – press 6
- If you want to reach out and touch, slap, or hit someone – press 7
- To request another teacher for the 3rd time this year – press 8
- To complain about bus transportation – press 9
- To complain about school lunches – press 10
- If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable for his or her behavior, class work, and homework, and it’s not the teachers’ fault for your child’s lack of effort, then hang up and have a nice day!
Sound familiar?
Well, the Israelites were in a complaining mood and poor Moses got the brunt of it!
It’s ironic, isn’t it, that in only 2 months the Israelites are looking back at 400 years of slavery as, “the good old days”!
When I read what the people of Israel are saying here, I think their attitude goes something like this:
· “Okay, so the Lord freed us from Egypt, and parted the Red Sea, and provided water when we needed it, but what has He done for us lately! Now we need food. What is He going to do about THAT?”
Isn’t it just like human nature to forget God’s past faithfulness when we find ourselves in a new desert experience? Suddenly “the good old days” of God’s past faithfulness are replaced with the “what has He done for me lately” attitude that is an affront to His goodness.
A desert experience can bring out the worst in us, but it can also be the very thing God chooses to use in order to encourage us to remember the “good old days” of His past faithfulness.
So which kind of “good old days” are YOU remembering in your desert – the “good old days” when everything was going well for you, or the “good old days” when things weren’t going well, but God was abundantly faithful?
· I Thess. 5:18 Paul says, “Give thanks in ALL circumstances (even the desert experiences), for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Chapter 16:4-8; 11-12; 13-32
The people of Israel forgot God’s past faithfulness & grumbled over what He wasn’t providing now. He heard their grumbling and knew it wasn’t against Moses, it was against Him! Despite that – notice His abundant grace as He trained this people to obey and know Him.
- 1. He would rain down bread from heaven (not fire like I would have done!) v. 4
- 2. It would be there every morning v. 4
- 3. Each morning they were to gather as much as they needed – a certain portion (called an omer) for each person – when the sun came out it would melt away v. 21
- 4. They were not to gather more than they needed or it would go bad by morning v. 20
- 5. Except on the Sabbath day. Because God had declared that day a day of rest, He allowed them to gather twice as much manna on THAT day because on the Sabbath there would be none. That was the only day on which the manna would NOT go bad! v. 24-25
- 6. He also provided quail for them to eat in the evening. v. 13
God provided manna for them every single day – except on the Sabbath – for every one of the 40 years they wandered in the desert!
So what was the Lord trying to teach the Israelites in the desert of want – when there was no food?
#1 He was testing their obedience.
- v. 4b “In this way I will TEST them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” Did they pass God’s test? Some did. . . . but some didn’t. . . .
- v. 19-20 Moses said: “No one is to keep any (Manna) until morning”. 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.”
- · V. 25-28 Moses said, “Because today is a Sabbath to the Lord, you will not find any (manna) on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the 7th day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.
- Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the 7th day to gather it, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?”
#2 He was reminding them of His power, provision, and deliverance.
- V. 6 “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.”
- V. 8 “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.”
# 3 He wanted them to KNOW Him
- V. 11 “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!”
You can bet it was no fun to be in a real desert, or in a figurative desert of deprivation and need – but God was there in the desert with Israel, working to train a people who would know Him, who would recognize His power, provision and deliverance, and who would trust and obey Him – not out of fear but out of love and faith.
Having fun in YOUR desert? Probably not! But, the important thing is: What are you learning?
IT’S THROUGH GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO US IN THE DESERT THAT WE KNOW HE IS REAL AND PERSONAL!
God tested the people of Israel to see whether or not they would obey Him. Could that be why YOU are in your desert? If the Lord is asking you to obey Him in some area – maybe related to your walk with Him, or in a relationship where your actions have brought discord, or in an area of sin in your life that you just don’t want to give up – then will you OBEY?
We can see from what happened to those who refused to obey God’s instructions regarding the collection of manna, that when they didn’t obey, they suffered the consequences and went to bed with an empty stomach! If you’re feeling empty or God seems far away, maybe it’s time for you to obey Him. That is how we experience His faithfulness and KNOW that He is real and personal!
Maybe God seems far away because you have forgotten His past demonstrations of power, provision, and deliverance in your life. It might be time to make a list and thank Him.
The last thing to ask yourself is: What am I learning ABOUT GOD here in the desert? Ask Him what it is He’s trying to teach you.
Exodus 16: 32-35
The Lord instructed Moses to put an omer of manna in a jar and display it in the front of the Testimony, so that the generations to come could SEE the bread He had given the people to eat in the desert when He brought them out of Egypt.
If the Lord has brought you out of a desert in your past, what did you learn about Him while you were there?
Complaining is contagious, but so is gratitude, so how can you pass those lessons on to the generations of children, grandchildren, and spiritual children – God has given YOU so that they might thank Him right along with you?
EACH GENERATION IS RESPONSIBLE TO PASS ALONG AN UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO THE NEXT
Anytime is a good time to think of ways you can keep the memory of God’s faithfulness alive for those who come after you.
If you like to scrapbook, consider recording with photos and notes how God has been faithful to your family.
Make a video recording for your grandchildren including the history of how you came to know the Lord and what He has meant to you since.
Is the Lord WITH you? Is He at work? Does He intend that you be a light to those around you who don’t know Him? Yes, yes and yes.
It’s just that sometimes He uses a desert to do His BEST work.
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