Possibly the most interesting part is that it was always the practical stuff that caused the Israelites to stumble. Their lack of resources (meat, bread, water, etc.) led them to curse their environment and turn their hearts away from God. It was their natural and immediate reaction to a crisis situation.
I've been thinking about the ways in which I get tripped up, and they're very similar. I had a freak-out a couple weeks ago when I saw that my electric bill had nearly doubled as a result of El Nino, or Global Warming, or the War on Terror, or whatever is causing this commercial-freezer-type weather. I said, "Oh, that I had moved farther south!" and "Oh, that I could go on vacation somewhere tropical!" which now sound strangely similar to, "Oh, that we had died in Egypt!"
But what if the Israelites had had the insight to live by faith? What if, instead of panicking about a lack of water or lamenting the delicious foods left behind when exiting Egypt, they had each trusted that their God, who was powerful enough to bring them out of slavery -- SLAVERY! -- could and would also provide for their daily needs?
I was reading in Deuteronomy again last night and found this bit in chapter 8:
"And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not."
It made me wonder how much differently the story would have gone had the Israelites passed more tests. And it gave me some insight into the "wilderness" part of my journey.
On Sunday I was convinced that I had made it through the wilderness and was setting foot in the "land of milk and honey." But having read that section above, I'm wondering if there might be more testing and humbling on its way. Both today and yesterday have involved a little bit of each.
Yesterday I was tested (for probably the dozenth [just go with it] time) on whether I would obey a command -- specifically, "confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed," which sucks until you get through to the healing part. For a few months my answer was no, but yesterday it was yes. I confessed, I was prayed for, I can now be healed.
And suffice it to say that today, through a series of events at work, I was humbled.
For the Israelites, the whole point of their 40 years in the wilderness was the ups and downs, the testing of their commitment to the Lord. Now I find myself in my own version of their valley-victory show and want SO. BADLY. to pass the tests the first time.
I'm not sure how to do that for weeks on end, but I will at least try to obey today.
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