Feb 4: Exodus 16-18

Feb 4, Exodus 16-18

Exodus 16.So the Israelites are literally complaining that Moses brought them out (even through God really did) in the desert to kill them all. Can we sometimes relate to the Israelites? God supernaturally works things out for them and they/we forget and complain.  Pretty much every one of them was complaining that they were hungry and they were buying some lies. Can you relate? It's like being delivered from sin and then desiring to have your sin back. I have been through this, where something sinful is ripped from you and you do it out of obedience, but then for some reason, all you can think about is all the good things that the sin had. For some reason, I couldn't remember all the negative, just all the positive. Even though, if I sat and thought about it, a bunch of negative would come in like a wave, if I continued in the sin. This is exactly what is going one here. This is why my wife and I  are continually teaching our kids to take our thoughts captive and surrender them to Christ. Because if you don’t, you end up like the Israelites, believing lies how great sin and life in bondage is. But God doesn't give us back to bondage and sin, whenever we want it. Sometimes, God is more gracious than we deserve. And we are going to see how God is going to provide for them and provide food, from heaven no less. But - He is going to test them as well and see if they will walk in His laws or not. This chapter is going after the heart of what it truly means to trust in God’s words/ways. God is going to give them food (manna - which is a Hebrew word for 'what is it?' It would be comparable to us Americans saying, 'what the heck?' And then calling it that. Which some Scholars say was comparable to frosted corn flakes) in the morning and meat (quail, which are like little chickens) at night. God is going to do this six days a week. On the sixth day of the week, God will provide double on the 6th day, so that they can rest from gathering on that next day, Saturday. For six days they are only to take what they need and nothing more, and double on the sixth for food on the seventh day - or the food goes bad. Well, you guessed it - some of the Israelites do not trust God and take more than they need on a weekday and it turns to worms the next day, or they go out looking for food on the Sabbath - not trusting in God’s word. What is also crazy, is that if they were greedy and took more than they could eat it turned to worms, but on Friday when they were to take double, for Saturday, it stayed good to eat. That goes to show you that God is the one who controls the manna's expression date. But even though God does all of this, the people don't obey his word fully, and expect to see it on the ground on Saturday, the day the Lord told them it wouldn't be there. This frustrates Moses and God. Don’t forget here - they were in bondage when they were in Egypt and had to work for everything. Now, God provides for them in such a way that all they have to do is go pick it up outside, with certain guidelines. They don't have to harvest it, hunt it, or pay for it - and they still struggle at being obedient to God or believing Him, even though He has moved oceans for them. 

Basically if you do not trust God, you will hoard and be discontent. If you trust God to meet your daily needs, you will be content and you will potentially be generous and grateful. 

Exodus 17. To continue on with the recurring theme of lack of trust and faith in God, the Israelites tee it up again and knock it out of the park. The were traveling and there was no water for people to drink. Again, they accused Moses of wanting to kill them through not giving them water. Moses gets ticked at them and tells them they are testing the Lord, by not trusting in His provisions. Again - they were thirsty and like a selfish group, they wanted to make sure that Moses knew what their needs were and they wanted what they wanted, immediately. So God has Moses strike a rock, which pours forth water. Another example of God doing something that isn't natural. 

The narrative continues to tell us about a battle with a neighboring town. Moses appoints Joshua to get his men and go fight them. They were winning the battle when Moses had his hands raised, but when his hands were down they were losing. So, they perched up his arms under a stone so that his hands were raised (towards God…). They won, Joshua overwhelmed the enemy and won. There Moses set up an altar to remember the battle and God’s help in it. 

Exodus 18 is an amazing chapter. Honestly, someday I would like to write a book on this chapter, but for now, a quick overview will do! Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, comes to see him. If his name doesn't sound familiar that is because in Exodus 2:18, it refers to Reuel as Moses Father-in-law. How can the same dad have two different names? Well. We know that they are the same, because his wife, Zipporah, is the same daughter and the term 'priest of Midian' remains the same. But we have to realize that Reuel in Hebrew, means 'Friend of God.' So back in the beginning when Moses was getting to know Jethro, Moses could have been referring to Jethro as a non personal term, by saying Jethro was a 'friend of God' by introducing him to the true God when he came out of Egypt. With the constant name of Jethro being used afterwards, we get the feeling that Jethro was in fact his name. Make sense? Anyways, Jethro comes and brings Moses his wife and 2 boys. They had a nice reunion. Moses shares with Jethro all of the things that God has done! Jethro’s response: “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” There is none greater than our God!!! Then Jethro kicks into observation priest mode and offers some priestly acts, by sacrificing to God. The next day, things get back to normal and Moses gets back to business… Jethro notices Moses sitting and judging the people all day long - morning till night! Jethro tells him that this is not good. From a business perspective - this is horrible management… His observation: This is too much for one man and you and the people are not better off for it. Jethro tells Moses to pick some trusted men - real men who wont take a bribe or be bad judges - to be leaders of large groups and small groups based on skill set (task to talent). Moses listened to his father in law. Smart man Moses…

To sum it all up:

• Basically if you do not trust God you will hoard and be discontent. If you trust God to meet your daily needs, you will be content and you will potentially be generous and grateful.
• Like Moses, we need to learn to rely on others to help us do God’s work. We are not intended to do it alone!