How Grateful Are You?

Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said,"I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted;
The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. "The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
This is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father's God, and I will extol Him. "The LORD is a warrior;
The LORD is His name. "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:1-4 NASB)

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" (Exodus 15:22-24 NASB)

Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will 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 or not they will walk in My instruction. (Exodus 16:1-4 NASB)

Moses said, " This will happen  when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the LORD hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD." (Exodus 16:8 NASB)

Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?" (Exodus 17:1-7 NASB)

Background

In Exodus 15 Israel had just finished defeating the greatest kingdom on Earth during their time, Egypt.  All this was done without lifting a sword or a finger.  For 400+ years they had been the slaves in Egypt. During that time they had been forced to build great cities, monuments to the Egyptian gods, and forts for their great armies.[1] They had been mistreated and were even ordered to murder their own male children.[2]  God knew of their situation and sent Moses.[3]   After a series of judgment, ending with the death of the first born Egyptians, the children of Israel are released.  After this was done Egypt mounted one more attempt to regain control over this enslaved nation, which led to the disastrous result of losing most of the army in the Red Sea. God had taken His people through the wilderness by the Red Sea only to be trapped between it and Pharaoh's army.  God then opened the Red Sea where the people walked through on dry land.  In the process the Egyptian army followed them into the Red Sea only to have the sea close in on them and drown them.

This is where we pick up our story starting in Exodus 15. The children of Israel are on the other side witnessing this huge victory. As a result they praise God for the victory He has given. This would be great if the story ended here, but the Bible shows its divine inspiration by dealing with the story after the victory. The Bible does not always end with a happy forever after and here is no exception. Why?  Because it is telling the story of redemption and the only way to tell that beautiful story is to tell all the ugly details of the human experience.  So, as Paul Harvey use to say, here is the rest of the story.

Verse 22 picks up and tells about how they are now on the march toward the promise land with a slight detour toward Mt. Sinai to receive the commandments from God. On their way there they find themselves without water and start to complain. Then they find an oasis where the water is bitter. Rather than thanking God for His loving watch care over them then asking for His help they falsely accuse Moses, Aaron and God of misleading them in order to murder them in the wilderness.  In fact if patience would have prevailed verse 27 states that they were only a day away from finding something better.

Chapter 16 picks up on a new grumble that occurs right after they leave the oasis, food!  They complained about the fact that there was no food.  God provides in order to test the people to see if they will follow His commands that are given about the food, when it should be gathered, how much was to be gathered and how long it should be kept without being eaten.  Afterwards chapter 17 has a new issue of the people complaining about not having any water.  Here God supplies water from a rock. 

The point that I am attempting to make is this, isn’t funny how the children of Israel praised God after a spectacle victory, but couldn’t give Him glory in the everyday difficulties that they faced.  How is it that they could praise God at one point, basically at the moment of their salvation but not trust Him to provide the most basic needs of food and water?  For the children of Israel this would become the trend.  It would be a trend that will cost one generation the opportunity to take the land[4] and in time another generation a great kingdom.

Are We Better Than They?

As I have meditated on these passages for the last several days I have concluded that we are no different than the children of Israel wondering through the wilderness.  For those who know Jesus as Savior; who have come to understand that we are all sinners,[5] and are dead spiritually before God[6]; who have turned from our sins to God believing that Jesus Christ is the only way to forgiveness of sin and the needed salvation from eternal destruction which waits for us[7]; the challenge is simple, do we praise God on Sunday for this great miracle of grace, then on Monday we relax by grumbling about our situation?  Have we become a thankless people?

Romans 1:18-32 is often a passage used to preach against homosexuality.  However if you do a more in-depth study you find something more.  It is the history of the world in rebellion against God in a nutshell.  In fact verse 21 is at the core thought were Paul writes, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculation, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  They did two things:  Refused to recognize God for whom He is; and they refused to give thanks to Him based on who He is.  It is a society and the individual heart that lives without thankfulness toward God which causes there to be greater problems.  We sink into darkness when we refuse to be a people of gratitude.  A thankful heart toward God is also a respectful heart.  A thankless heart is one that finds itself steeped in rebellion and angry about what it experiences.

The important factor here is what we give thanks for and when we give thanks.  Most of us who know Jesus as Savior have a very bad habit.  On Sunday and Wednesday nights we give God thanks for His great salvation, but when Monday arrives we get up with the doldrums complaining about the job we have.  Rarely do we get up giving Him praise for His great salvation and for the life He has given.  No thanks for the job we have; no thanks for the breath of life He has given; no thanks for the health we may have; no thanks for those who help us with our health needs; no thanks for our spouses (and we wonder why the divorce rate is as high as it is among Christians); no thanks for the church we attend; no thanks for the house we have or car we drive or the liberties we enjoy (at least for this moment in time).  We live thankless, ungrateful lives that look more like pagans than obedient believers.

My challenge to you today, and the rest of the week is to show thankfulness throughout the week.  Start on Sunday, but keep it going.  There may be times when we have to look hard to find it, but it can be done.  And when we do it, God will be lifted up.  When God is lifted up, then people will be drawn to Him and opportunities to share the gospel become even greater.

Let me know what you think.

His Servant Together With Him,

Steven Swaim
President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries
All Bible passages which are quoted come from the NASB (New American Standard Version)

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[1] Exodus 1:11

[2] Exodus 1:15-22

[3] Exodus 3:7-10

[4] Numbers 12-15

[5] Romans 3:23-“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

[6] Ephesians 2:1-2-“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the pirit tht is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

[7] Mark 1:15-(Jesus speaking) “and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”