Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 23: Grumbling Through the Desert

Good morning, everyone!

Today's reading is Exodus 16-18.

And now the whining starts.

"I'm hot."

"I'm tired."

"I'm hungry."

"My feet hurt."

The Israelites do a lot of complaining in the desert. It's as though being rescued from slavery wasn't enough.

They're hungry, so God feeds them with manna from heaven. Food literally falls from Heaven.

That's amazing.

And yet, as their journey continues, the Israelites get thirsty and they see no water, and they begin to complain.

Again.

So the Lord provides water.

Now, it's easy to look at the Israelites' story and see what they were doing wrong. But I have to confess that I do it too. Even when I don't realize it.

God provides for me. I am so blessed. And yet, when there's a new bump in the road, I often complain about it before I pray about it. Or I complain about it while I pray about it. Or after.

You get my point.

I have a (bad) habit of focusing on the situation rather than on what God can do, or what He has already done.

Just like the Israelites.

We all go through deserts in our lives. Some hotter than others. Some drier than others.

But God always provides what we need to get through them, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time. 

I can look back on my life and see how He brought me out of so many deserts, so many storms.

And I am grateful for each time.

Yet, when the next desert appears, I am tempted to forget all that God has brought me through. To complain about it before I pray about it. To seek my own solution before I seek His will.

So, when I read these chapters of Exodus, I am reminded that my situation could always be worse. I am also reminded that no matter how bad the situation, God will be with us, and He always has a plan. We just have to trust Him to fulfill that plan in His timing.

Sometimes He has something for us to learn while we are in the desert that will help us through an even drier desert.

Are you getting tired of the desert metaphor? I am.

So, I'll move on.

In chapter 18, Moses' father-in-law visits.

Jethro hears that Moses is passing through, and takes Moses' wife and sons to meet him.

While he's there, Jethro hears all that God has done for the Israelites, and believe that God is the only true God, and worships Him.

Now, what's amazing about this is that Jethro was a priest of Midian, serving many false gods.

And yet, at the mention of all the things God had done, he believes and sacrifices to God and worships Him.

Sometimes I focus so much on the stories of salvation in the New Testament that I forget they were in the Old Testament too. 

Something else that's good about Jethro's visit is that he has a new perspective on things.

Now, Moses is judging the people. All of them. Tens of thousands of them. For every little thing.

And Jethro counsels Moses that it's not a good thing because he'll wear himself out, and the people will get tired of him.

So Jethro tells him to teach people God's laws and delegate to leadership.

So Moses does and it works out very well. The leaders handle the small disputes, and Moses takes the larger ones to God.

When I read this part, I am reminded of an important function in the church.

The church has leaders. Pastors, apostles, teachers, etc.

And each leader has a function. One leader (usually the head pastor) is the head of the church, following God's direction for the church.

And the rest of the leadership functions under the head pastor. So, in this way the head pastor delegates positions of authority, according to God's direction.

And each leader in the church functions in their position with resources and guidance from the head pastor.

And when one leader isn't doing what they are supposed to be doing, or if the head pastor has trouble delegating, it causes chaos in the church. Actual chaos. And frustration.

You've heard the phrase "too many cooks in the kitchen," right?

Well, it's something like that. A good leader, like Moses, not only delegates to leaders, a good leader then trusts those leaders to handle their positions, without micromanaging.

I don't know why I felt that was important today, but it was a point I observed.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read Exodus 19-21.