Discovery: I had the opportunity to guest speak at Tri-Valley Chinese Bible Church this past weekend in Pleasanton. I spoke from a sermon series that I gave last year at MVCCC from the book of Exodus. It was helpful for me to review some of the concepts that we studied this past year.
In our passage today, we see the two problems that Israel struggled with throughout their wilderness experience: spiritual amnesia and a spirit of entitlement. In Exodus 15 we see the Israelites complaining about the lack of water and we see God's miraculous provision of water at Marah and Elim. Yet they begin to complain again in our chapter about the lack of food. Worse then their spiritual amnesia is the attitude they have towards God. They expect Him to provide for them. Rather than eat their own livestock that they had taken from Egypt, they wanted/expected God to spoon feed them. This spirit of entitlement is not only unbecoming but later will have terrible consequences. Israel's spiritual amnesia and spirit of entitlement comes to a zenith when they utter these words in verse 3: "...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."
Application: I can appreciate a little bit of melodrama in my life but this is over the top! In their mind's eye, the Israelites "recall" sitting around pots of meat and eating to their hearts content while they were slaves in Egypt. Talk about revisionist history! And yet, I totally understand how this perspective comes about. I have the same heart attitude as the Israelites here in our passage. Too often I make my current problems too big and God's previous faithfulness too distant. In my mind's eye, my life used to be so much better/easier in my previous ministry context or earlier life stage compared to the challenges that I face today. One of two things is true: either my current assessment is correct or something is clouding my judgment. More often than not, it is the later.
It is really hard and frustrating to find contentment in life. There always seems to be this tug of war in my heart between the "here and now" and the "the hope to be." The more I wrestle with this tension, I find myself thinking and feeling incredible silly things such as the statement of the Israelites in verse 3. Exodus 16 is powerful because God responds to the complaining heart of Israel with tangible expressions of His grace. Rather than punishing them for their discontent and bad attitude, God provides for them manna from heaven. He give them what they truly need: daily bread. What is also amazing is that God provides quail for them in the evening as well. This is truly a wonderful picture of grace. He gives them blessings beyond what they need or deserve.
As I was driving home yesterday from guest speaking, I paused and thanked God for blessing me with my life. I love those moments of perspective when you realize how truly blessed you are.
Prayer: Thank you Jesus for my life, family, friends, and ministry. Help me keep a proper perspective on all these things.
