For most church-going kids, some of their first lessons include the famous Hebrew teacher Moses. From being found as a baby in a basket to splitting the sea wide open, this prophet accomplished many amazing things for the Lord. However, a crucial part of Moses’s story might have been missed in those early preschool Sunday School classes – the truth about the people he delivered.
Yep, you guessed it – the Israelites.
These people were enslaved, suffering, and on the down and out when the Lord sent Moses to rescue them. So one would imagine that when he arrived to help, those Israelites would jump for joy and thank the Lord for the obedience Moses demonstrated. At first, I’m sure they were grateful for the Lord’s provision and Moses’s assistance – but it didn’t last long.
Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Exodus 14:11-12).
Before Moses knew it, the people he had rescued and led out of slavery were upset with the fact that he had! During their time in Egypt, they had seen the effects of the plagues and seen the Lord provide for them in times of trouble. But when the going got too harsh and hope seemed lost, they forgot about the goodness of the One who had saved them in the first place.
Yet, even though they grumbled, the Lord still had a promised plan for them. He would give His people a land flowing with milk and honey. However, when the time came for them to receive this undeserved gift … they once again lacked faith in the Lord. So instead, the Lord allowed them to wander the wilderness for 40 years.
As easy as it would be to sit here and condemn these individuals for their lack of faith … to do so would be hypocritical. Because when it’s all said and done, the picture of the Israelites is a picture of believers everywhere.
No matter how often the Lord is good to us, we are still quick to grumble and complain, and often, we find a way around what He asks of us. But what is interesting about the Israelites’ tale is that their story is mentioned throughout the Bible as one that lacks faith – and it shows that the Lord replaces a blessing with punishment if stubborn hearts get in the way of His plan.
In Psalm 81:10-12, the psalmist mentions the Israelites’ story. He says:
I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.” (Emphasis added.)
This shows how the Lord provided. But when His efforts were mocked, He did what the people wanted Him to do – He left them to their own devices. And if we aren’t careful, He can do the same thing to us.
The Scripture doesn’t specifically mention what those “devices” were, but I imagine their wayward hearts wanted their plan to be the best. In today’s world, those devices may look like spending time outside God’s Word, spending too much time on our phones, or even forgoing the plan we know He has for our lives.
And if and when we repeatedly choose not to listen to the voice of the Father, we put ourselves in great danger of hardening our hearts to His ultimate plan and will for us – just like the Israelites.
May we learn from their lessons, and listen to the Master’s plan for our lives.
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years (Hebrews 3:7-9).
