Exodus 14:10-14,As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
Exodus 16:3, “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”
Numbers 14:4, Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”
The people of Israel were in bondage for four hundred years. They were slaves to the Egyptians, and throughout those four hundred years they cried out to God, praying and begging Him to free them from bondage. So God goes, “I’ve heard the cries of my people, I will free them from this bondage and give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” He sends Moses, and long story short, Moses goes to Pharaoh like, “Let my people go!” and Pharaoh is like, “No”. Then God sends all these plagues and Pharaoh is like, “Take them!” Then as they are leaving Pharaoh and his army decides to go after them, and God parts the Red Sea for their ultimate escape, and Pharaoh and his army drowned in the Red Sea. Then their is a journey they have to go on, before they can get to the place of milk and honey. They have to walk, they didn’t have cars back then all they had were horses, carriages, and sandals. Seeing that they were slaves most of them probably didn’t even have that. And it was Africa, they were near the equator, lots of dry land and heat. The Middle east was the same, desert and heat everywhere, there’s no escaping it. They had to go through the desert in order to get to the promised land.
Now the Israelites cried out to God to be free, but before they were even completely out of the sight of Pharaoh and his army they were begging to go back. They were complaining that it was too hard. THis was before they crossed the Red Sea. They saw the people who had them in bondage for four hundred years coming towards them and for a moment forgot who was really in control. I love Moses’ response to them as they are freaking out and having meltdowns. He seems to be at peace with the whole situation. He’s like, “Chill y’all, chill out God’s got us.” God will not bring us out of something and not see us all the way through. He will always make a way, to the Israelites it looked like it was over. They were caught between the enemy and the sea, but here comes God being God, splitting the water so they could walk on dry land to get across that sea. God won’t bring us to the sea and not give us a way through or across it. Not only did God make a way for them to cross the Red Sea and out of bondage, He drowned all the oppressors in the Sea. They could no longer pursue the people of Israel. There was no one to come and take them back, if they went it was solely their choice. Which brings me to my next point.
What do we do when the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Not in a sense that where they left was better than where they were going. They had to do some gardening if they wanted that grass to be greener. Meaning what do we do when we realize we have to grow the grass; we have to do some planting and watering, and waiting before anything pops up from the ground.? These are the things the people of Israel faced, they had to go on a journey before they could get to the Promised Land, they weren’t teleporting there. They had to walk through the hot desert, and at some points they said, it would be better if we had stayed in Egypt. In this specific passage the people were in the need of food, they were hungry. They were probably hangry, and the angry part of that word go the best of them (giving them the benefit of the doubt). I don’t know, all I know is sometimes hanger makes you a little crazy. Now the people are complaining to Moses and they’re all, “At least when we were in Egypt we weren’t dying of starvation, you brought us out here to die.” It seems like every time the journey got hard, they started to reminisce about what it would be like if they were still slaves. It wasn’t the best life but it was better than this, or that’s what they thought. God heard the cries of the people and He gave them bread from heaven in the morning, and gave them meat to eat by night. Then in Genesis 17 the people are once again complaining because they are thirsty, and God hears their grumbling, He gives them water, from a rock. From a rock!
THe israelites got what they wanted, but when the saw that it wasn’t exactly how they wanted it they were ready to go back to their old lives. But the most profound thing about this story is that if the Israelites had never stepped into the desert they would have never experienced the true glory of God. They would not have witnessed the miracles, they would not know that even when there seems to be no way, with God there is always a way. It was only when they lost faith that they started to regret leaving Egypt. But sometimes, sometimes we have to step into the desert and watch God work. We have to venture into the unknown, we have to go places we don’t go. Stepping out into the desert is taking a step or leap even when you don’t know where you foot or feet will land. That’s called faith. If God can split an entire sea, if he could make bread and manna rain down from heaven, if He can give us water from a rock. What more can He do? God won't lead us to the sea and not give us a way through it. He won’t lead us into the desert without making sure that we are taken care of.
When we ask God to bring us through or out of something, we have to be sure that we are ready to walk into the desert. That we are ready and willing to trust Him. I know we get mad at the Israelites for doing all of this stuff. But that is or has been many of us as Christians. When things get hard, we think or even sometimes vocalize that life was a lot easier when we were living in the world. I can tell you that the trip back will be just as hard, as the trip there, the difference is one has a reward, and the other is just old news that we decided to turn back to.
Reflection
- Can you Identify with the Israelites?
- Have you ever thought about going back into the world when life as a Christian gets hard?
Prayer Time
Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Whatever stood out to the most today bring it God in prayer. Just talk to HIm, have an open conversation with the Lord.
I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. I love you so much, make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 118!
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