February 2
Ex 15:19-17:7 | PS 27:1-6 | Prov 6:20-26 | Matt 22:1-33
I had a meeting with some of my colleagues. No sooner did the meeting begin that the complaining began. One thing after another the complaints were beginning to pile up. I interjected that when we complain we are telling God, “No thank you”, and that this was a poor path for our conversation. One of my colleagues disagreed and said this is advocated at meetings, it is therapeutic to air things out. Needless to say that was the more popular opinion and the complaints continued. Complaining is contagious. It is also not innocent. Whether the complaints are about work, spouses, children, governments, politics, churches, etc., they lead people down a bad path and they tend to be non-constructive. This is different than constructive criticism in which we seek God and seek solutions for a particular problem which might be occurring. God is always the answer. God is always present. God is always loving. God can turn even seemingly bad things for good. He makes no mistakes (though we do), and seeking Him in the midst of turmoil is always the right approach.
We will see a series of immediate stressors confronting the Israelites no sooner than they celebrate their victory over the Egyptians. They complain of thirst when they approach the bitter waters at Marah in Exodus 15:23-24. Then hunger sets in and we see the people begin to question the character of God in 16:2-3, “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”” This might seem as though the complaint was lodged against Moses and Aaron, but we read how they were perceived in 16:8-9, after God spoke of his soon to arrive provision of Manna and meat, “Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.” Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.’ ” Despite their complaints, God was training them to keep their eyes fixed on Him daily for everything.
The same applies to us today, when we complain, we do so against God. We need God daily for everything. May we never forget this. As an aside, for those interested in the veracity of Scripture, “Patterns of Evidence” has answered many of these questions, even finding the probable tomb of Joseph and his brothers in the land of Goshen. The current site for Mt Sinai and the Red Sea crossing was inaccurately decided upon by Queen Helena in the early 300’s AD, when she marked many of the historical sites for the Catholic Church in Israel. But a better site from the narrative which has been corroborated by a number of archeologists is the passing through the Gulf of Aqaba and Mt Sinai actually being in what is currently Saudi Arabia. Findings for this site include a column placed by King Solomon on both sides of the gulf approximately 1000 BC commemorating the crossing. The beach in Nuweiba could have handled the 2.5 million Israelites. This location fits the narrative of being entered through a narrow passage and flanked on either side by mountainous areas. There is an area in the sea directly in front of this area which is more shallow than the rest of the sea with a depth of only around 100 feet. Also this area is rather wide and as opposed to the rest of the sea has a mild decline and incline (only around 5 degrees). In addition there is little coral in this region, but the coral found has the appearance of chariot wheels. Why this long discussion on the archaeology? Because the Bible is 100% true. In fact, when history and the Bible disagree, the Bible is always archaeologically correct. You can trust that what you hold in your hands. Please read Exodus 14 slowly to take in the events of the Red Sea crossing. As an aside the Gulf of Aqaba and Mt Sinai are in Muslim territory and are closed to westerners for further investigation.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: