Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” He cried out to the Lord; and the Lordshowed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.
The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
The Israelites have just survived slavery, plagues, and crossing the Red Sea while the Egyptians drowned. Chapter 15 is a almost entirely a song of praise for their safe journey, until verse 22.
And then it begins. The complaining. "What shall we drink?" and "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread."
Those ungrateful Israelites! Boy, you give them an inch and they want...
To eat. To drink.
It's easy to get caught up and judge the Israelites and forget that they've just left the only home they've known to enter the unknown; that they are now facing an uncertain future in a desert, where food isn't exactly abundant.
Yet, another part of me says, they have just seen God work amazing miracles to save them. How can they imagine God won't continue to save them?
How can they forget so quickly?
Because they are hungry? Because their immediate needs seem more important at the time? Because they are uncomfortable?
Yes.
Moses will lead these people despite their complaining. He will intercede with an ever increasingly annoyed Lord to get them food and water until he himself begins in impatience to lose sight of the bigger picture. Until his annoyance leads him to snap back at God himself.
From the beginning of the relationship, Moses spoke to God with candor He doubted, questioned, snapped, refused, and as a result became, like David would later become, a man after God's own heart. God's friend.
If the Israelites could not see God in the desert after having miracle after miracle thrown on them, perhaps we can cut ourselves some slack when we forget the work God does in our own lives.
Or perhaps it is worth reminding ourselves frequently through worship, study, fellowship and service that God is after us for relationship, even though we won't always be comfortable. We may sometimes be hungry. We will often suffer.
And yet God will continue to come for us. Guiding us. Leading us. Loving us. Being able to handle our complaints, our questions, our doubts, our anger.
The Israelites it seemed had good reason to complain. Their situation seemed more dire than most things we face. Yet they forgot that God was going ahead of them, preparing the way. God would not lead them into the desert after all they had been through to die. God led them from Egypt to live.
God prepares a way for us at well.
God of journey and freedom, help me remember always that you are there, wanting nothing more than to be in loving relationship with us. Help us to never forget. Amen
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