I’ve been reading in my daily quiet time about the miraculous way God delivered his people from Egyptian slavery. What a job he had! When he finally convinced Moses to go and tell them that he had heard their cries for his help, they bowed down and worshipped him. They started off on the right foot (or I guess it was the right knee) but it didn’t take long for them to show their true colors.
Pharoah reminded them who was in charge and told them they would have to find their own straw to make bricks. So instead of things getting better, they got worse. God had told them it was going to take a while, but they were impatient and started complaining. Complaining was their normal default mode. I can’t imagine slaves going off to the brickyard and whistling while they worked! So God performed 10 miracles and showed both the Egyptians and the Israelites who the true God was (each plague was an assault on an Egyptian god) and his people were set free and left with lovely parting gifts!
When they got to the edge of the Red Sea, they looked back and saw the Egyptian army in hot pursuit. They asked Moses, “Why have you brought us out in the desert to die?” It was a complaint he would hear for the next 40 years. They brought their complaining nature through the Red Sea with them. Their complaining, and the ingratitude that caused it, cost them the land of milk and honey. Instead, they walked in a long and winding rut through the desert until all the adults died off.
We like to think that we would have done better. After God showed himself to be powerful and faithful, surely we would have worshipped and obeyed him. But would we? What have you brought through the water with you? Since you became a Christian, what default sin keeps you from getting all God wants to give you? When God doesn’t meet your expectations, how do you respond? What rut do you find yourself in? The Israelites took the long way home, but you don’t have to. Set your spiritual GPS for the promised land and let go of any baggage that slows you down. See you there!
Dianne