Much of our life is spent looking for direction. As it is for us so it was for Israel. They too were a people constantly looking for direction. Their journeying was often marked by their altars and their songs of worship.
When they came out of Egypt they learned a new song; a song of rejoicing. For all practical purposes it was the first real song of deliverance they could really sing. Imagine the exuberance and the abandon when they realized that tomorrow they would not wake up to the oppression of a cruel taskmaster. The sounds of singing and rejoicing filled the air.
But 3 days later the band stopped playing. They had run out of water and instead of worshippers they became complainers. God then gives them water. Yet they still did not become singers and worshippers again. They begin to cry for meat. God gave them quail. And still they did not worship. Next, they cried for bread. God gave them manna and once again they did not lift their voice in song.
But man did they ever become experts at complaining. They got it down to an art. All they needed was half a reason and they would light in to God and give Him what for.
First of all, what they should have never forgotten was that it was He who had led them out of Egyptian bondage. He did not lead them out to let them die on the other side of the Red Sea. He did not leave them out so that they would die in the wilderness. He did not lead them out so that they would dehydrate within 3 days.
Secondly, they should have continued to worship beyond the first day. I believe the lack of water was because there was a lack of worship. They worshipped wholeheartedly on the first day. But by the second day the deliverance was old hat to them. What God was looking for was spontaneous, grateful worship.
They should have reminded themselves that He knew the way that they took. After all, He planned and orchestrated their escape. He laid the route out for them. By His divine design He road mapped their journey. He knew exactly what He was doing.
What Israel failed to realize, and we sometimes fail to realize, is that there are some things worse than the wilderness.
But what could possibly be worse? What could be worse than running out of water? What could be worse than not having meat? What could be worse than going to bed hungry with no bread to fill you up?
It could have been worse if He would have let you go another direction and not led them through the Wilderness. Israel had no idea what God was keeping them from when He led them the way that He did.
Exodus 13:17 tells us
“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:”
God indeed knew the way that they would take. He could have taken them through the land of the Philistines, which was much shorter. Many times shortcuts are not the best route! Had they gone that way they would have entered a land of war. Talk about trouble; try leaving Egypt only to enter a land of war!
Many times we find ourselves in situation we don’t understand. We come out of the bondage of a trial, whether sickness or financial need, spiritual need or emotional need. And man, do we ever worship and thank God. But 3 days later we seem to run out of steam.
We start wondering why in the world things are the way they are. What we need to do is worship on the second day after deliverance; the third day after; the fourth; the fifth.
He knows the way that I take and that is good enough for me!
“But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.”
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