Tag: complain

A REBELLIOUS AND STUBBORN PEOPLE [3/26/21]

Wilderness JourneysMoses and the Israelites spent approximately one year at Sinai, during which the Covenant was ratified, the Tabernacle constructed (Quote- The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Atlas), and various guidelines of the Law were given <Lev.27:34>; then God spoke to Moses; “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’” <Ex.33:1 (NIV)>. God however refused to go with them sighting their stubborn attitude toward His commands. Upon hearing this, the people began grieving while they waited on God to decide what to do with them <Ex.33:3-5>; so it was for the Israelites, rebellious and stubborn in their ways. How about you and I on our wilderness journey?

“On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony. Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.” <Num.10:11-12 (NIV)>; this was the pattern of their journeying, whenever the “cloud” moved the people followed until it came to rest <Num.10:33-36>. It was not long before their old ways began to emerge in their lives once again, and the first incident is seen in their complaining about their hardships, and here we see God’s response; “fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.” <Num.11:1 (NIV)>. Then they began to crave other food, they longed for the food they ate in Egypt and complained that they only had Manna to eat. Their complaints were so great that Moses was overwhelmed and requested that God put him to death, so God decided to give them the meat that they so desired <Num.11:11-18>.

Do you, like the Israelites, complain about what God has supplied for you on your wilderness journey? Do you long for the excitement of your old way of life? Has God’s provision for you become meaningless, useless, outdated and no longer applicable to your modern way of life? You need to be careful of your desires for God may grant them; “The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month — until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it — because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”‘” <Num.11:18-20 (NIV); Psa.106:15, 43>. We all need to understand that longing for the things and ways of the old life can be dangerous to us on our wilderness journey! The problem was not the lack of a variation in their food supply, but their lack of gratitude to God for His provisions; He knows what is good for us on our wilderness journey, and this does not pertain to our spiritual food only, it relates to everything that we need in our spiritual life. God would now provide the meat that the people requested; and Moses questioned if God could supply all that they wanted <Num.11:21-23>, like Moses we should never underestimate what God can or will do <Num.11:31-34>. The people then continued on their journey and came to Hazeroth (or Hudhera in Arabic – from The Book of Life, Historical Digest).

Now the “ugly head” of rebellion and stubbornness rises once again as Moses’ leadership is contested; a familiar issue in some of our Churches today. Here we see that Miriam and Aaron (sister and brother of Moses) start an attack on Moses in regards to his Cushite wife; it is not clear if this was a reference to Zipporah, or if Moses had remarried. The attack, however, used the woman only as a pretext, for as we see in the response of God, the focus was on Moses’ prophetic gift and his special relationship with God. Isn’t this the way contentions begin in our social groups and in our churches today – using something or someone as a pretext to the complaint? God’s anger again rises on the offenders <Num.12:1-15>, and after the penalty has been served the people move on to the Desert of Paran where they camped for some time making Kadesh-barnea their headquarters.

At Kadesh-barnea God is now going to prepare His people to conquer the land that He has promised to them as descendants of Abraham. Having first given instructions to Moses while still at Sinai to take a census of the entire community of people, concentrating on all the men twenty years old and above who would form an army <Num.1:1-3>. God now instructs Moses to select one man from each of the ancestral tribes to form a team to explore the land of Canaan, to see what the land, its people, its fortifications and farming capabilities were like; “So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)  When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.” <Num.13:21-25 (NIV)>. They found the land just as it was described – “a land flowing with milk and honey”; but there was an obstacle, something far beyond their capability to overcome! “But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”” <Num.13:28-29 (NIV)>; there were giants in the land – the descendants of Anak; and the Israelites were like “grasshoppers” to them. The Israelites had not learned any of the previous lessons that God had tried to teach them, especially at their previous battle against the Amalekites <Ex.17:8-16>. Again, there is complaint and rebellion in the camp and the people wish for something that God would again grant them; “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!” <Num.14:2 (NIV)>.

God will grant our wishes especially when we are ungrateful and forget what He has done for us. We should always remember the abounding love and forgiveness of God and never be ungrateful in rejecting His goodness and mercy to us, even though we sin against Him in our unbelief; and when, in our doubt of His goodness, we do not confess our sin and seek His forgiveness, we will suffer His judgment for sin or the loss of His blessings; “’The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’” <Num.14:18 (NIV); cf 1 Jn.1:8-9>. God’s judgment for their sin of rebellion against Him is now passed on to all the people: “not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times — not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it….’As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall — every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you — your bodies will fall in this desert.” <Num.14:22-23, 28-32 (NIV)>. The rebellious people decide to conquer the land in their own way in disobedience to God’s command and Moses has to remind them that failure would be the outcome because “the Lord was not with them”; nevertheless, they presumptuously went only to be defeated and driven back into the desert. God’s judgment had fallen upon them and they would now wander in the desert for forty years, one year for each of the forty days that it took them to explore the land.

There are two lessons that God would like us to learn from this. First, unfaithfulness and rebellion against God is to our peril, and as has been seen in the account here at Kadesh-barnea, it resulted in judgment on the guilty people. God will not allow any individual to hold in contempt His commands and live their life as if He does not exist, disregard for His mercy and love will only bring His wrath upon the sinner <Psa.78:32>, and discipline upon His believing children <Heb.12:25>. Second, doing what God has not directed will also lead to our demise, we should never presume that God is leading us, we need to wait in prayer and be certain of His command otherwise “the Lord is not with us” <see Psa.81:11-12; Prov.29:1; Jer.11:8; Heb.4:2>. Let us be sure to listen to and obey The One who speaks from Heaven!

A CHANGE IN DIET [1/1/21]

It was now one month into their journey through the wilderness and the Israelites come to the Desert of Sin; situated just south of Elim on the northwestern side of the Sinai Peninsular (currently the states of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman). “The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.” <Ex.16:1 (NIV); cf Ex.12:2>. Here we see that the people did not remember, or did not learn from their first lesson at Marah, for it is recorded that they complained because of the lack of food, and to their complaint now was added the desire that they should have died in Egypt rather than facing the possibility of dying of starvation. It should be observed that we should never pray or express such thoughts to God when we fail to trust Him as we face the difficulties of life, for He may just grant us our wish, this, the Israelites discovered later on in their journey: “the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”” <Ex.16:2-3 (NIV)>.

It is often the desire of Christians – followers of Christ – to desire the activities we had before our conversion. We begin with the small things and gradually progress to the bigger things, as we personally decide that we are strong enough in our faith, and such activities do not have the influence that they once had on us. This is another lie of Satan and we must be on our guard! Here we find that the Israelites are desirous for the meat and other foods they had in Egypt; and in similarity, Christians should be aware that being desirous of worldly activities can be dangerous <see Num.11:4-6, 34>. God has saved us from the slavery of sin by the shed blood of Christ on the Cross of Calvary, He has made us a new creation, and as such we have new desires in our activities, thoughts and actions which should bring glory to God, and not direct us back to our old way of living <see 2 Cor.5:17; cf Eph.2:10; Rom.12:1-2; Gal.5:1, 16>.

Here, the record states that God is now going to give another lesson to the people; “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” <Ex.16:4 (NIV)>. Egyptian food was no longer the diet for God’s people; God is now going to change their diet, providing them with the food necessary for their journey; worldly pleasure is no longer the requirement for the child of God, so He provides for us the food necessary for our spiritual journey. What was Manna? There have been many theories, but such theories cannot account for the abundance, the fact that it ceased on the seventh day, the fact that they collected and ate of it for forty years, or the fact that it was their staple food while on their wilderness journey. There is no doubt that it was an act of the supreme Grace of God as the Psalmist expresses <Ex.16:15, 26, 35; cf Psa.78:18-24>.

What then is the application for humanity and the followers of Christ today? God said that He would provide bread from heaven for the people, which was a representation of what was to be a future event, and Christ revealed this to His followers <see Jn.6:31-33>; Christ is the TRUE Bread from heaven! The Israelites had to collect the Manna each morning and eat it for their physical good; there would be no benefit to them just to collect it, they had to consume it. There could be no assimilation of its food benefit unless it was eaten by the people. Christ said to His followers: “I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” <Jn.6:48-51 (NIV)>. As the Israelites ate of the Manna, the follower of Christ must also eat (consume of) the Bread of Life, as Christ taught, for that is the only way that we can become more like Christ; it is through the assimilation of the food that one benefits from it. How then do we “eat” the Bread of Heaven? It is by feeding on God’s Word, The Scriptures, Christ Himself <Jn.1:1-5>, for Christ is the Word of God. Christ then is the new diet for the child of God, He is our Manna for our spiritual journey; He is the Manna necessary for spiritual sustenance by all mankind. So, we have to make the daily collection of our Manna by a careful study of God’s word, not only daily Bible reading, but a regular study of the Scriptures to see what God expects of us, seeking His guidance and teaching <see Jer.15:16>.

So, let us follow the instructions given to the Israelites: gather as much as you need <Ex.16:16-17>, neglect of God’s Word causes spiritual starvation. Collect the Manna as early as you can, before the anxieties and concerns of the day <Ex.16:21>, but remember that God is aware of our circumstances as we collect our Manna. Collect your Manna daily, it must be fresh and as it is consumed, we grow in the knowledge of Christ, and we will never lack an appetite for our heavenly Manna. However, never get to the place in your life where you show contempt for the Manna; this is the result of a turning back of the heart to Egypt <Acts 7:39>, they remembered the food they ate in Egypt, the previous way of life that they had left, the worldly enjoyments of their former state, and Satan made good use of these thoughts, and God’s Manna was scorned. In similarity this can occur in the life of Christ’s follower; do not allow your thoughts to take you back to your former way of life that was controlled by Satan; Christ is sufficient for all of His followers, but His sufficiency cannot be experienced when His Word is neglected, so let us follow the commands given to the Israelites and make our daily and constant collection of our Manna.

THE WILDERNESS WAY [12/17/20]

“The words “Wilderness’ or “Desert” do not necessarily denote a mere waste, but rather extensive tracts not under cultivation, yet frequently affording rich and abundant pasturage. The wilderness in which the Israelites wandered forty years while on their way from Egypt to the Land of Promise is included in the peninsula of Sinai.” (source: The Book of Life- Historical Digest). It was God’s school of necessary discipline for His people who He had released from Egyptian captivity, and there was much for them to learn from the experiences that were to come.

They had witnessed the mighty power of their God as the Egyptian army was completely destroyed at the Red Sea, they had their first sense of freedom, and were conscious of God’s guiding presence <Ex.13:21-22; 14:31>. They praised God for their liberation as they sang their song of Redemption and were anticipating great things as they began their journey to Canaan. God’s command to Pharaoh was “Let my people go, so that they may worship me” <Ex.7:16; 8:27>, and so they began their journey. Such is the beginning of the new life of a believer in Christ, freedom from a life of sin is experienced, the song of praise to God is raised and the new convert begins to live a life of worship and service to the God of our Salvation, and then God’s schooling and discipline begins. In similarity to the Israelites, we as new believers still have the old sin nature within us, which has to be brought under control by The Holy Spirit, because the old nature keeps trying to control us in our new life as a Christian, and very soon we experience the first lesson that is to be learned.

“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.” <Ex.15:22 (NIV)> The Desert of Shur is identified as being on the north west section of the Sinai Peninsular bordering the Red Sea; this indicated that they were travelling southward along the east shore of the Red Sea. “When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” <Ex.15:23-24 (NIV)>. Marah represents the bitterness of life that each of us will experience on our respective journey. For three days they had journeyed and the expectation was that they would worship God by sacrifices, but by this time they had used all the water they had carried with them, tired and thirsty they come to what they expected to be a source of drinking water, but it was bitter.

The Christ-Follower today faces many Marahs in life. God has been blessing and providing a good income, plans are made, a new home is purchased, then the job ends in a layoff. Good health is being enjoyed and suddenly the diagnosis is cancer.  The family has moved to a new location, a new Church is found and everyone is enjoying the worship; then changes are made upsetting the congregation and a new place of worship is needed. We all have experienced some kind of Marah as we make our life-journey, but let us not be like the Israelites, for grumbling will only make matters worse. “There the Lord .… tested them.” Ex.15:25 (NIV)> for this was God’s purpose in Marah, God knew that the water was bitter but it was His learning experience for His people. When the word “Test” is used, in our perception it is to ascertain knowledge, but the Biblical concept is teaching, for God’s testing is a learning experience, and here God tests them with a command: “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” <Ex.15:26 (NIV)>. Listen to God’s commands and obey them is the first lesson to be learned by all who follow Christ; God does not say that He will prevent the “Marah” in our life, but He says that He will be with us through the difficulty whatever it may be, and that He will bring healing from the bad experience.

“Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” <Ex.15:27 (NIV)> After every Marah there is an Elim, that is the order of the wilderness journey. At Elim the Israelites were able to enjoy the water and the rest, and to reflect upon the experience of Marah; and God is able to do this for every individual that sincerely follows Christ. But the reflection is the manner in which God rectified the situation at Marah: “Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.” <Ex.15:25 (NIV)>. It is said that in nature the antidote grows near the poison, and so God showed Moses a tree, nothing special is recorded about this tree, but God uses it to bring about a solution to the bitterness; and so, for every sorrow that we experience in life God has a satisfactory cure, it may not be immediate, it may not be a complete removal of the affliction, but God is teaching us His way. The Biblical example is that of Job; God allowed Satan to rob him of all his possessions, but instead of blaming God for his losses he turned to God in worship <Job 1:20-22>; and although his wife encouraged him to curse God and die, Job continued to endure his difficulties, he may not have discovered the real reason for his suffering but God eventually healed him and blessed him with more than he had before <Job 42:12-13>, because of his faithfulness.

But what about our experiences? Being thrown out of a parent’s house because of faith in Jesus Christ, or belittled by our social group. Suffering through a medical condition that cannot be resolved, and so many other situations that the follower of Christ experiences. How does God help our Marah? Let us remember that the life with no difficulty was not promised to the believer in Christ <Jn.16:33; Acts 14:22b>. God showed Moses a tree, how can that apply to our suffering? Christ suffered for us on a tree (Cross), a tree that He created <Col.1:16>, and we have been fore-warned by Scripture that as a follower of Christ we too will suffer with Him because of the evil world in which we live <1 Pet.4:12-16>; so, we need to look to the Cross, look to Jesus who is the author and perfector of our faith <Heb.12:2>, for it is only through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour that we will find any consolation during our time of hardship and suffering here on our Wilderness journey. Therefore, we need to leave our problems at the foot of the Cross and trust Christ to resolve our difficulties; for this is the way that we get to our Elim.

Our Marah will certainly come, but there will be an Elim; and we can only completely experience our Elim if we follow God’s decree: “Listen carefully…do what is right in his eyes…. pay attention to his commands” <Ex.15:26>, do not complain but praise God for His faithfulness.