01/21/12

 

Today I want to share what the Lord has taught me through the children of Israel.

Two men have come in to the land saying they were sent from the one true God and the Israelites are going to be released from their bondage.

The Israelites were uncertain.

They didn't like their bondage, but they didn't know what to think of these two men who are making water into blood, doing other plagues, and telling things that Yahweh had told them.

The problem was that for so long the children of Israel had become so used to the Egyptian way of life that they forgot that wasn't their home.  

The Promised Land was where they were to be.

They began to understand more of God when they saw all of his plagues and they did what God commanded when he told them to be ready for the night of Passover, but they still had a lot to learn about trust.

As they leave Egypt, I am sure there was a lot of excitement over finally leaving, but a few days into their journey and they are stopped at the Red Sea.  God didn't take them the easy way to the Promised Land.  He knew they had a lot to learn and He was going to have to show them His power, too.  They have the Red Sea in front of them, mountains on each side of them, and then the Egyptians are now coming in to take them back.  

They begin to complain and say it was better when they were in the bondage because at least then they could live and not die in the wilderness.  Can you imagine over a million people murmur?  I can't take it when some of my students or my own children begin to whine and complain.  Imagine what Moses and Aaron felt.  

Imagine what God thought.

I love how Moses tells them "... fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.... the Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace."

He basically told them to be quiet!  He said they needed to just trust that God was going to do what He said He was going to do.  (This is what Moses has also had to learn, remember?)

We are just like the children of Israel.  We get so caught up in the ways of the world and become in bondage to sin.  The Lord wants to free us from that bondage.  He wants us to grow in Him daily so that we are more like Him.  He wants us to be more ready for Heaven.  In the process of freeing us from that sin or that bondage, it isn't always easy.  There are hard roads.  There are obstacles along the way.

We worry.

We complain.

We wish we could go back to "the way things used to be" when life seemed "easier" even though we were in bondage.  We can't see what God is wanting to teach us along the way.

We need to remember a paraphrase of what Moses said when we get in those moments:

Stop worrying and don't be afraid. Stop trying to figure it out yourself.  Be still because the Lord is going to fight for you.  

Just be quiet and let Him!