Mar 11

Lesson from the Wilderness

avatar Published in Untagged  by Pastor Mark
 We were reminded today of a lesson that all of us need to remember.  When the nation of Israel had cried out to the Lord in their slavery, the Lord heard and sent them a deliver named Moses.  Moses was used by God to deliver a message to Pharaoh the strongest ruler in the world to let my people go. You know what happens next Pharaoh refuses to all his work for to leave and God is forced to send plague after plague upon Egypt until Pharaoh's hard heartedness not only costs him his slaves but his firstborn son.  Finally after 400 years of slavery in Egypt the nation of Israel sets out of the land of slavery and heads to the land of promise.  They travel east towards the Red Sea where God again performs a miracle through Moses of parting the waters and allowing the nation to walk through on dry land.  Can you imagine how happy the nation of Israel was?  Can you imagine how excited the older folk were who had prayed all their lives for this deliverance?  Can you imagine how vindicated they felt over the oppressive hand of Pharaoh? God was leading them and they were on a roll.  They passed through the Red Sea by way of God's miracle hand  and go into the wilderness of the Sinai, a true desert, barren and dry far different from the fertile area of the land that had held them captive. At first things in the desert seemed to be going well, and the people for a period of weeks are living off the past victories and past joys, but sooner than they should have, the Israelites forget God and begin to complain.  Yesterday we took a trip from Jerusalem to Eliat Israel which sits on the border between present day Egypt and Israel.  Then once we cleared the border we drove from there to Cairo, the trip took us 13 hours by bus. It was made longer than normal because of the situation of unrest in the Gaza strip. Normally it would have taken about half the time had that route been open. Nevertheless we spent an entire day making the 450 mile trip from Jerusalem to Cairo. The nation of Israel left Egypt and after only a few weeks of remembering God and the victories He had won.  They disobey God over and over again and a trip that should take only a few months ends up taking 40 years all because of disobedience.  Now after driving through the Sinai, I can understand in a small way how unpleasant it must have been for the Israelites.  But had they simply obeyed they would have gotten to the promise land all of them not just Joshua and Caleb. Now after visiting Israel you can see firsthand the result of disobedience and obedience.  We learned a lesson yesterday, God does not want us to stay in the wilderness, instead He wants us to trust Him and Obey.  Obedience the Prophet Samuel said is better than sacrifice.  You and I must choose to obey God even when the way seems hard, we must not forget what He has done for us and what He can do as we say yes.