The Lord looked after the
Israelites. He rescued them from Egypt, He caused the Red Sea to
dry up so that they can walk over on dry ground, He turned bitter
water into sweet water and He led them to a wonderful oasis with
twelve springs. He looked after them. But despite all that, the
moment they left the oasis, they started complaining again.
"Oh, that we were back in Egypt,"
they moaned. "It would have been better if the Lord had killed us
there! At least there we had plenty to eat. But now you have
brought us into this desert to starve us to death." Exodus 16:3
They encountered a problem and
instead of looking up to God for the answer to the problem, they
moaned and groaned. They even had the audacity to romanticize their
time in Egypt. They remembered only the good food, but they forgot
all about the suffering they had to endure, all the beatings, all
the unfair treatment. No, they remembered only the good things.
And we do the same. Once we are on
a new road with God, we longingly look back to the 'good old days'
on the former path we were on, when the new road gets a bit bumpy
and difficult. Instead of looking ahead to the wonderful future
that lies ahead of us; we tend to look back longing for the old
path. Lot's wife did just that. She looked back to her 'good life'
in Sodom and Gomorrah, whilst God specifically said that she should
look forward to the new life He had in mind for her. And her
outcome was that she turned into a salt pillar, never walking the
path God had set out for her.
We too need to watch out. When we
follow God and His perfect plan for our lives, we can so easily
look back to where we could have been if we didn't follow God. It
is a very dangerous thing to do. I also tend to do it sometimes. I
look to my friends who started out with my on the Chartered
Accountant path and I think where I could have been by now in the
corporate world, had I not listened to God's calling on my life. I
could have been high up in the corporate structure, earning a lot
of money and receiving a lot of recognition and praise. But God
quickly draws me back and help me to focus again on all He has in
store for me. His new plan is the best plan for me. But despite
that, I sometimes find myself still longing for some recognition
and praise from the world, longing for an important position and
lots of money streaming in on a monthly basis. My old man inside of
me longs for that. But luckily the more I grow in the new man, who
I truly am in Christ, the more the longing subsides and the more I
crave only what God wants for me.
God is gracious and His plans are
good. The Israelites moaned and longed back, and God in His grace
supplied them with food every day. And today He supplies us with
His Word and with His Spirit every day too. All we need to do is to
go and pick it up like the Israelites had to do. Then we will have
more than enough. Praise His wonderful Name!
You are glorious and You are
wonderful! We praise You with all our might. You know best and we
want You to lead the way. Please forgive us if we tend to look
back, help us to look up to You instead. We love You. Amen