Exodus 16 - Out of Comfort

Celebrations are done and the new routines of wilderness living are setting in for this million person march to the Promised Land. In the mundaneness of playing follow the leader-cloud, the people of Israel have time to reflect on what has happened.  Their life has changed completely. 

You would think they would be joyous at the deliverance they have experienced and be grateful to no longer serve under the harsh oppression they once endured, but their minds are working out what it means for their future. They are still learning to trust God and aren't sure of his live for them even after massive demonstrations. Would God allow them to suffer and die in the wilderness before they reach the Promised Land?  

Someone begins to think about their hunger. It would be good to eat now. Remember some of the good meals we had in Egypt?  Those were great. Do you think God might let us starve here?  What was the point of stirring up the Egyptians against us if we are just going to die here?  We might as well have died in Egypt and not prolonged the suffering. And so it goes. 

God had brought the people out of everything they had ever known so he could teach them a new way of living. They needed to learn that God was the source of all their provision and that He would care for them. God was teaching them that in the midst of turmoil and need, God sees and sustains His people. 

The people of Israel had a rather impersonal and distant relationship with God. They needed this wilderness experience to bring them out of their comfort so they could know God's love and grace in a tangible way. 

The Israelites' grumbling was more than just a statement of need; it was an expression of their discontentment with the deliverance they had received and a reflection of the distant relationship they had with their Redeemer.  They turned on Moses because he was God's representative to the people. As God's representative he graciously never returned their anger but interceded for the people. 

And so it is with us in our turmoil all too often. We can turn to God in the turmoil and apply our faith to the situation at hand and see that God is all sufficient to sustain us through the difficulty or we can, like the Israelites, turn on God complaining about our conditions; outlining to God how our plans are being thwarted and our expectations are not being met. 

It occurs to me in my own life that had I not encountered strife and conflict, that my relationship to God might still be distant and I might have no first hand knowledge of the grace of God in my life. I might have intellectually accepted my sinful state and my need for a Savior, but I might never have known how truly desperate my condition was or how much it cost God to redeem me. As I see God sustain me through trial I get a taste of sacrifice and the depths of God's love when I experience it personally. I am challenged to show that same love for others who need a dose of grace and mercy. We get to be Moses to the people we encounter, not returning anger but in love interceding.  

Moses was just a picture of Christ's love for us. We too have someone interceding for us. He knows our hearts and he demonstrated his love for us by assuming our place and bearing the penalty for our sin. Jesus, our deliverer still lives and acts to gain glory for God and working in the lives of His people. 

Whether our challenge is physical, emotional or financial, we grow in the grace of God and increase our faith as we see God move in the midst if the turmoil if life. We gain that peace that surpasses what circumstances warrant and we develop a tangible faith that allows us to know God more intimately. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him.