Week 5
Exodus 10-30
This week we “meet” Moses. We’ve heard these stories before- the pharaoh orders all baby boys 2 years and under be killed so his mom puts him in a basket so he can be found and saved by the pharaoh’s daughter. Eventually he grows up to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt, following the plagues that are brought upon the Egyptians when pharaoh won’t let them take a 3 day journey to worship God. During the journey they witness miracles like water spewing from a rock in the desert, the parting of the Red Sea, mana falling from heaven, and being led by a pillar of light.
No biggie, right?! The things that pop out to me here-
How flippantly we can talk about these BIG miracles. If something even half of this magnitude happened today- whether in person or we read about it on Facebook- we would be in awe and talking about it. “Whoa, did you hear who won American Idol?!” “Did you watch The Bachelor last night?!” “Did you see the new iPhone Apple is releasing?!” “Why is Elon Musk going into space?” BUT here we literally have a book documenting where water was turned into blood, an entire nation of firstborns are mysteriously killed over night, and THEN a sea was literally split in 2, not just split in 2 but the ground was DRY and 600,000+ people with their livestock and herds crossed on dry land. That is crazy! And here I am so wrapped up in my own life or so jaded that these huge miracles are just “meh, yeah yeah yeah we’ve heard about that before. It was a long long time ago”
Once the Hebrews have escaped, the Egyptian army has been obliterated in the Red Sea, they are wandering around in the desert, and what do they do? Start grumbling! They have been rescued from their servitude, they witnessed plagues & miracles firsthand, they are being guided by a pillar of light, their every need is being met BUT YET- they continue to grumble. So this just makes me wonder- how much of this is still true (with me) today? I have been saved by the grace of God and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, my family has been provided for, we have been blessed with so much more than we could ever possibly deserve BUT I still find reasons to grumble. That person irritated me at work, God can you please just make them less irritating or maybe find them a different job, show THEM the error of their ways. Ugh why is it raining again?! I had outdoor plans this weekend! Why can’t it just rain during the week while I’m inside working?! If only we had more, had bigger, nicer, better whatevers, then I could really do……. Tell me it’s not just me. As humans in general, but especially as Americans, are we not super eager to play the blame game? To always want more, more, more! God if only YOU would…..God if only I had…..but I NEED….. 😬😞
What about you? Do you see yourself in these grumbling Hebrews? Maybe you see yourself as the person just wandering around “lost” in the desert, forgetting there’s a pillar of light at the front to guide us?? What were your takeaways here?