Pilgrimage Problems
For Israel, it's time to learn that you can trust God for salvation and sustenance along the way.
One thing is for sure, everyone is probably in a place they've never been. You've never been this old before, you've never been this experienced. Perhaps you've moved or you've been transferred or left by someone's passing or leaving you. Life will bring us to many places where doubts and fears can creep in to cause us fear. This is Israel's story in Exodus 16.
It is not long after their split-sea release that the reality of their new life is set before them in the image of a barren wilderness. Gone is the familiarity of their sufferings. Even prisoners confess their fears of getting on the outside after being in the system for so long. What would Israel do on her own now?
The first three days yield no water. The first sign of water is bitter water. They cry out to Moses who takes a stick (tree), throws it in the water and they become sweet.
The go from miraculous water to a bountiful supply of water:
Exodus 15:27–16:3 (ESV) Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Note they counted the Palm trees. That place must have beens sweet to them.
But it does not last long. God's people are called to move forward.
Exodus 16:1 (ESV) They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
This is a sad and funny moment. Think of what God has done for them. He's changed bitter water to sweet and then provided them with 12 springs of water. They were overflowing in the provision of God... YET - they grumble about not having bread and want to die.
Then they eulogize their slavery! They look back to Egypt as if i was something great! We do this. We get to new places in God and start to fear. That ancient runaway plan from Adam and Eve that secretly doubts God has the best intention for us.
The answer again from God will be abundance. Notice God's words:
Exodus 16:4–5 (ESV) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Notice God is not done... He adds to them a generous portion of meat:
Exodus 16:12–15 (ESV) “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ ”
One thing is for sure, everyone is probably in a place they've never been. You've never been this old before, you've never been this experienced. Perhaps you've moved or you've been transferred or left by someone's passing or leaving you. Life will bring us to many places where doubts and fears can creep in to cause us fear. This is Israel's story in Exodus 16.
It is not long after their split-sea release that the reality of their new life is set before them in the image of a barren wilderness. Gone is the familiarity of their sufferings. Even prisoners confess their fears of getting on the outside after being in the system for so long. What would Israel do on her own now?
The first three days yield no water. The first sign of water is bitter water. They cry out to Moses who takes a stick (tree), throws it in the water and they become sweet.
The go from miraculous water to a bountiful supply of water:
Exodus 15:27–16:3 (ESV) Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Note they counted the Palm trees. That place must have beens sweet to them.
But it does not last long. God's people are called to move forward.
Exodus 16:1 (ESV) They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
This is a sad and funny moment. Think of what God has done for them. He's changed bitter water to sweet and then provided them with 12 springs of water. They were overflowing in the provision of God... YET - they grumble about not having bread and want to die.
Then they eulogize their slavery! They look back to Egypt as if i was something great! We do this. We get to new places in God and start to fear. That ancient runaway plan from Adam and Eve that secretly doubts God has the best intention for us.
The answer again from God will be abundance. Notice God's words:
Exodus 16:4–5 (ESV) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Notice God is not done... He adds to them a generous portion of meat:
Exodus 16:12–15 (ESV) “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ ”
God again goes above and beyond their expectations. He leaves them without lack. He is enough for the journey. Will they trust Him?
Will we? Jesus picked up on this passage in the sermon on the Mount. Having spent 40 days in His own wilderness experience and learning in His humanity that God will always provide, He shared these words:
Matthew 6:25 (ESV) “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:30 (ESV) ...if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
The fact is we are all going to go places we've never been before. That's a fact of life. It is an especially true fact of life in God. And whatever place He leads you, you can believe - He will provide in that place for you.
And Christian, you have something Israel did not. You have the Holy Spirit of God in you to bear witness that you are a child of God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who by His blood has accepted us into His family. God will not fail you.
Now move onward.
Will we? Jesus picked up on this passage in the sermon on the Mount. Having spent 40 days in His own wilderness experience and learning in His humanity that God will always provide, He shared these words:
Matthew 6:25 (ESV) “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:30 (ESV) ...if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
The fact is we are all going to go places we've never been before. That's a fact of life. It is an especially true fact of life in God. And whatever place He leads you, you can believe - He will provide in that place for you.
And Christian, you have something Israel did not. You have the Holy Spirit of God in you to bear witness that you are a child of God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who by His blood has accepted us into His family. God will not fail you.
Now move onward.
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