After a month of being freed from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites continue to grumble to Moses and convey their distrust in God. They were not content in their new circumstances and were fearful that God would not sustain them. If left to their own choices, they would have chosen death over their new-found freedom (Ex. 16:3). God "heard their grumbling" and again demonstrated His power through the miracles of manna and quail provided daily. Can you imagine how much food was needed to provide for 650,000 men AND their families? What a contrast between the plagues where God covered the land with death to God covering the land with daily provisions of sweet bread and quail.
God supplied these provisions daily for 40 years and commanded that each person take only what was needed for the day. Some took more and some took less and for each person that was enough. God wanted to provide for each person only what was needed for the day. God wanted the Israelites to trust Him daily and He wants the same from us.
Now that their bellies were full, the Israelites were thirsty. Again, the Israelites grumbled to Moses. Again, God provided. Can you imagine Moses' position while dealing with "these people"? Millions of Israelites were complaining to him again and again. Moses must have had incredible patience to be the leader of these people. This part of the scripture challenges me to take inventory and evaluate my grumbling. God knows our needs and hears our grumblings. There is no positive thing that can come from grumbling (or complaining) to others. I want to be an encouragement to people in leadership positions and to others around me. In Philippians 2:4, God commands us to "do everything without grumbling or complaining". Wait... does it say EVERYTHING???? Yes, it does. Let's encourage each other to strive for this goal.
Next, we meet Joshua who becomes a warrior that God eventually uses to deliver the Israelites to the promised land. Through Joshua's physical fighting and leadership in the battle, and Moses' oversight and continued submission to God (in this case through literal hands lifted up), God allows them to defend themselves against the Amalekites. I look forward to reading more about Joshua, don't you?
Moses spends some time with his father-in-law (Jethro) who delivers what must be some very welcome and wise words for Moses. He basically tells Moses that he (Moses) cannot do everything. Jethro wisely tells Moses to select capable men...key instruction coming up... "who fear God". My NIV study notes explain this word "fear" as "sense of reverential trust in God that includes commitment to his revealed will." Jethro was telling Moses to expand his leadership circle and to delegate the responsibility of judging among the Israelite people. I imagine that Moses was encouraged by the time he spent with his father-in-law as well as the fact that he had learned he could share some of his burden with other Godly men. We can do the same... we are not alone in our journey with God as he has provided a family for us to share in worship, fellowship, ministry, and encouragement. What a blessing!
Bonus Reading - 10 points :)
Psalm 105 is a wonderful summary of our readings so far and a reminder of all that God has done for His people. Take a couple minutes to enjoy this bonus reading for today and join me in praising God for his faithfulness!
I continue to be blessed by spending quality time in God's Word and with you all!
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for the delayed posting today. I've had an interesting past 18 hours. I'm one of the newest members of the kidney stone club and NO, you are not invited! I'm thankful that God has provided doctors, nurses, and medicines for those of us in need. I am especially thankful today for Dr. Hull and my primary nurse, Dana who has the most wonderful bedside manner!
I enjoyed seeing Natalie in action today, and I say enjoy because by then, the pain killers had kicked in :)
What a contrast, indeed! The death and destruction over the land, and then the life-giving nourishment. And, that Joshua! May we all strive to be encouraging to our leaders. Speaking of leaders, Jethro's advice to Moses is still used today....
ReplyDeleteGlad you are feeling better, Terry!!! May the Lord bless your efforts today, we appreciate you :)
Thanks Terry for some wonderful insight. I was encouraged as well by Moses surrounding himself with Godly advice and leaders. May we do the same.
ReplyDeleteSorry you have been through such a rough day and managed to "post" as well. What a warrior! God bless and sleep well tonight.
Terry-
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your insights on these chapters in Exodus. Thank you for the reminder to do EVERYTHING without complaining or grumbling. Sometimes we forget that we need to be "a light in the darkness" even during times of struggles. People are looking at us to see how we react to difficult situations.
Wonderful post Terry! All too often I see myself in the Israelites. I love the comparison between the life giving verses the death of the plagues. I'm so glad you're doing better! It was very random that I ended up in the ER today, I had to "float" from my usual ICU. God knew something! I'm so glad it wasn't anything more serious! Take it easy.
ReplyDeleteTERRI I AM AMAZED YOU SEEMED FINE LAST NIGHT WHEN I LEFT. I AM SO SORRY AND YOU NEED TO DRINK ALOT OF WATER.
ReplyDeleteNOW TO OUR READING .THE DESERT OF SIN IS NOT WHERE I WANT TO BE. IT SORTA OF MAKES ME THINK OF PHONE NUMBERS WITH 666 IN THEM. BUT THIS IS WHERE GOD LED THEM. BUT AMAZINGLY V 10 SAID THE GLORY OF THE LORD CAME, EVEN IN THE DESERT OF SIN. WITH THE GLORY CAME INSTRUCTIONS THAT SOME DECIDED THAT IT DID NOT APPLY TO THEM. GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS CHILDRENS APPLIES TO ALL OF THEM. WE NEED TO APPLY THIS TO OUR LIVES. THEN THE CHAPTER 17 10-13 WHERE MOSES NEEDED HELP HOLDING HIS HANDS UP SO THEY COULD WIN THE BATTLE IS ONE OF MY FAVIOTE STORYS. I NEED HELP HOLDING MY ARMS UP ALL THE TIME.
THEN IN 18:14 ON JETHRO TEACHES MOSES ABOUT SHARING RESPONSIBLITY AND GUESS WHAT HE LISTENED. THAT IS HARD FOR ME BECAUSE I WANT TO BE SURE IT IS DONE WELL. I HAVE LEARNED THAT WHEN YOU GIVE SOMEONE THE JOB YOU TURN IT LOOSE. IT IS HARD BUT I AM LEARNING. MY HUSBAND RESPECTED MY DADDY AND WOULD ALWAYS LISTEN TO HIS ADVISE. OH HOW BLESSED I AM.
GOOD NITE
Okay Terry - first of all, I am SO GLAD you are feeling better! Your post was fantastic, but with kidney stones?!?! WOW! Like Angela, I loved what you pointed out about not complaining or grumbling about ANYTHING! I have really been struggling with this lately and have been saying a lot of negative things and having a lot of negative thoughts about a certain situation in my life and the Holy Spirit is REALLY convicting me about it from several different angles.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that Jethro was such a wise man in his advice to Moses during this time in Moses' leadership of the Israelites. I see A LOT of stress in people's lives because they refuse to delegate to other people and it really is NOT wise to do this. I thank God for this example in Scripture about this issue.
Also, we do need to keep in mind that God's grace is sufficient for exactly what we need at the time we need it. We do not get to "store it up" for future use just as the Israelites did not get to store up the manna God was providing for future use. I just LOVE these types of connections!
Thank you for pulling in Psalm 105 Terry! Seeing Scripture linked together like this is just AMAZING!!!
Take care my friend! I hope it was not any of the chili at the Super Bowl party that got those kidney stones going! :)
Ah, yes..........the irony of writing a blog post on "do EVERYTHING without complaining" while suffering a kidney stone attack..........love ya, girl!
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