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So close
They made it. The children of Israel had been delivered by God almighty. The Lord had delivered them from the Egyptians and not only had their God revealed Himself and His power to them, but He had completely drowned and destroyed their enemies. They were finally free, their chains were broken, their slavery was over and 430 years of bondage had ended. They had followed Moses through the wilderness and now stood at Mt. Sinai, trembling before God.
What no water?
For three months they had traveled through the desert, but it had not been an easy journey to freedom. After God almighty had destroyed Pharaoh and his army and after the dancing and celebration were all over within three days reality hits. Where were they going to get water? They were in the desert. Where on earth could Moses get enough water to give everyone a drink, (many believe that there were more than a million of them at the time) let alone their cattle and other live stock.
So what did the children of Israel do? Just what all of us tend to do when we begin to become uncomfortable, COMPLAIN. Not only do we complain, but we find someone to blame for the way we feel.
Exodus 15:24 tells us that the people complained against Moses saying "What shall we drink?" We see that in Exodus 15:25 "Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet." So God meets their need.
What no food?
A few weeks go by and again we read in Exodus 16:1b-4 "On the fifteenth day the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day." Again the Lord provides for them.
How Quickly we forget
There are a couple of things I noticed here, a pattern is developing, a pattern of complaining instead of praying. They continue to complain to Moses & Aaron as well as complain about them. They are miserable and they need to blame someone instead of trying to help fix the problem or cry out to God for help. Crazy isn't it?
We come through unbelievable circumstances with God and then a few months go by and we forget all that God has done for us. We quickly forget the Miracles that He accomplished on our behalf. How God came to our rescue, how He broke the bondages off of our lives and how he defeats our enemies. Then something little comes up that makes us the least bit uncomfortable and we forget. Not only do we forget all He has done for us, but we lack the faith to trust a Great God who has already shown Himself strong on our behalf.
Pray
What do we do when we become uncomfortable? What do we do when concern or fear rise in our hearts and minds? I remember years ago when a problem would arise in my life I would get on the phone and call a friend and complain about my situation. Now I try and turn to God before I do anything else, I try and lift my problems and burdens up to the Lord. The Bible tells us to "Cast all your cares upon the Lord for he cares for you." I Peter 5:7
We are to talk to God all about it, tell Him our fears and concerns, humble ourselves and ask Him for help and direction. God hears and answers our prayers. Again the Word of God tells us in I Thessalonians 5:17 " Pray without ceasing." In the book of James it tells us that "We have not because we ask not."
Train ourselves
We need to train ourselves when something comes against us or comes into our lives that is causing concern, fear or frustration, we need to turn to God first. We need to remember to pray and bring our troubles to God because He cares. He hears us and He answers us.
Trusting God
We also need to learn to trust God. The children of Israel watched God come to their rescue, they had cried out to God and He had heard them. There comes a time when we need to stop the worry, and choose to believe God. I remember a time long ago that my heart was troubled and I remember making a decision to stop worrying and trust God. I chose to stop the fretting and turn to God in prayer instead.
We must learn to trust God as He reveals Himself to us. As He answers our prayers and comes to our rescue we need to realize that God has our best interest at heart. God loves us and He wants us to learn to trust Him. Proverbs 3:5 Tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
Meeting God
So here they are, they have tracked through the wilderness and God had supplied every need. They had witnessed first hand the plagues that the Lord had put upon the Egyptians, they had seen God destroy, Pharaoh and his army, day after day God proved His love and faithfulness to them by providing for their needs as well as leading them and protecting them. Now they stand at the foot of the mountain, Moses had brought the people out of the camp to meet with God.
The Bible says in Exodus 19:18 "Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. It's smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly." Moses had brought the children of Israel out to meet the Lord. God had rescued them and led them to Sinai so that He could speak with them and meet them.
The people fear
But instead of the people being excited to meet God, and remembering all the good things that God had done for them over the past months Exodus 20:18 says "Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off." 20:19 goes on to say, "Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die."
Moses encourages them and tells them not to fear, but the verse that speaks to me the most out of all of them is Exodus 20:21 "So the people stood far off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was." Yet so far They had been delivered from Egypt by the Lord and had come three months across the desert, God supplying all of their needs and they missed the very reason they had come. God had wanted a relationship with them. They were too fearful to trust that God Almighty wouldn't kill them. All that God had done on their behalf and they still didn't know Him! They still didn't know how much He loved them.
There comes a point in our lives in order to draw closer to God we have to push our fears away and act on all that you remember that He has done for us. We must choose to trust Him by what we have seen Him do for us and for others in the past. God wants a relationship with us. He didn't bring you this far to have you stand far off. He wants you to be close to Him. He wants us to pray to Him, talk to Him about everything and through our prayers and remembering all He's done will bring us near to Him. Don't stop at the foot of the mountain, draw near to God.
Carol@wholeheartbeliever.org
