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by Chuck Ness
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverb 3:5-6)Ever wonder what you would do if your leader told you to drive into the Ocean after he parted the waters? Would you still have enough faith to trust in the God your leader trusts? Would you have enough faith that the waters would be held back until you got to the other side? Well at the time when Pharaoh's army had the Israelites trapped between him and the Red Sea, the faith of the Israelites was very weak. (Exodus 14) At any sign of troubles they were ready to leave Moses and his God to go back to Egypt and the bondage of slavery.
Kind of like so many of us Christians today. At the first sign of trials and tribulations we are so quick to give up on Him, just as the Israelites did time and time again. Moses told the people to have faith and trust in the Lord who brought them out of bondage. Instead they romanticized the life they had in Egypt. Forgetting all about the whips, and drudgery of slave labor they were forced into. All they could remember was the food they ate, not the suffering they endured at the hands of the task masters, while despising the food from heaven God gave them.
“We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” (Numbers11:4-5)Their complaining and attitude about their circumstances made Moses so angry that when God told him to speak to the rock to bring water, he instead lashed out with his staff and struck it twice. God then told Moses, because he disobeyed Him that he and Aaron would not enter into the promised land.
Their lack of faith caused Moses to lose his chance to enter the promised land. Sometimes anger can backfire and hurt you instead of those it's intended for, even if you think they deserve your wrath. Well, the continued lack of faith, caused them to wonder in the desert for 40 years. While their children, whom they claimed to be worried about if they went into the land of Canaan, were the ones to possess the land. As for them? One by one they all died in the desert, as did Moses and Aaron.Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers20:12)
Don't be like those who perished in the wilderness.
So have faith, look to the future, and never look back. Don't be like the Israelites or Lot's wife, who looked back and longed for the life she had. She became a pillar of salt and lost her chance at salvation from the destruction that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.Be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26)Never look back longingly for the old days by romanticizing the life you once had when you were in bondage to sin. Understand that this Desert we must travel through has many trials and tribulations, but the promise of a new world is ours for the taking. Continue fighting the good fight, and one day you will possess the promised land.
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