Exodus 17:3: “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?”
Matthew 6:25-26 “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them? How much more valuable are you than they?
I was reading something very interesting in the Talmud today in Kiddushin 4a, let me quote Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar who asked this rhetorical question: “Have you ever seen a wild animal or a bird practicing a profession? Yet they have their sustenance provided for without anxiety and were they not create to serve me? But I was created to serve my Maker. How much more then, should I have my sustenance provided for without anxiety.” Sounds familiar? Jesus was only repeating at truth that the Jews of that day needed to be constantly reminded of and we today need the same jog to our memory, we are to God the most precious thing He created.
In Exodus we see the story where the people of Israel had just witnessed some great miracles, the crossing of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, quail for meat, not to mention all the signs and wonders that led them out of Egypt. You would think such demonstrations would leave little doubt in the minds of the people of Israel that God would take care of them. No doubt as soon as they realized they had no water they would say among themselves. “No sweat, remember all that manna we get every morning? Remember how God brought us across the Red Sea? Remember that cloud by day, that fire by night? Just a matter of time and we will have water, can’t wait to see how God is going to pull that one off.”
Why did the people not trust God for water? Why did they yalan or worry or complain? The word itself explains. The word yalan is spelled Yod, no foundation, Lamed, narrow thinking and Nun, self-importance. These are three attitudes of the heart that lead to complaining, worrying or fretting – yalan.
First they had no foundation. You would think they have plenty of foundation with all the miracles in the past. All those miracles should have been building blocks to a foundation, but they were not. As the miracles came they shouted their Hallelujahs, and praises, but they had narrow thinking and self-importance. They thought the miracles were just for them. Those miracles were not just for them, but for future generations and for us today to read and find comfort. When they received manna from heaven they failed to ask God why He was providing in this way. Had they done so they would have learned that getting fed was only one small reason. A greater reason was to build their faith, to discover God’s lovingkindness, to declare to the world the mighty power of God. They were so self-absorbed that they failed to see the whole picture. As a result they never allowed the miracles to build faith in them. While chowing down on manna from heaven they worried if they were going to die of thirst. Isn’t that crazy?
There are many Christians today who travel from convention to seminars to conferences drawn by the promise of some exciting testimony of someone who saw a ten foot angel in combat boots, who had a trip to heaven with maybe a side trip to hell. They search out for meetings which promise that the heavens will open and signs and wonders will appear or some new revelation as to who the Antichrist is or the latest last day fulfillment of prophecy or the discovery of the Nephillim. Such meetings are usually packed with people, some even paying a cover charge that equals that of attending some athletic event or other form of entertainment. But go and offer a conference where you will study the Book of Obadiah for some personal application and the teacher can pretty well expect to fill, at best, the front row seats.
We are like spoiled children sitting in a high chair throwing a tantrum, “Give me my miracle, I want my miracle and I want it now.” We pay out tithe, we attend church, we actually sit through that half hour sermon, so now it is time for God to fulfill His end of the bargain and cough up some miracle. Then if we don’t get that miracle we become like Israel who declared to Jeremiah, “Well, when we served God we were starving but since we started to serve the Queen of heaven we are well fed, we will just follow god who doesn’t welch on us.” President Elect Donald Trump won the election for one reason and one reason only, enough people believed he was offering a better deal than his opponent.
Indeed, I have met people who would sell their souls to the highest bidder be it God or the god of this world. I have met Christians who literally say, “Ok, God, we got the manna, but didn’t you forget something, you know, like where’s the water? Come on now God, snap to it, get with the program, you fall down on the job again and I will just take my affections to another god and you will be out a job, how do like them apples.” To many Christians God is nothing more than a Celestial politician. We are too wrapped up in our own personal needs, wants, desires, or problems, that we fail to see the wider picture of God’s workings.
The other day I pulled up into the driveway of a friend’s house and her dog Missy calmly walked right in front of my car. I was halfway in the driveway, half way in the street and Missy would not move. I beep the house, say “Nice doggy, please move” but Missy does not move. So I get a little more positive and shout, “Move!!” Missy moves and I move the car two more feet before Missy moves in front of my car again just giving me this look of contempt. That parking spot belongs to her master and dog gone it (pun intended) she was not about to let anyone else park there. I am not saying Missy is any smarter than I am but somehow when faced with the same situation, she seems to handle it better than I do. At that moment I sensed Jesus whispering to me, “I protect Missy and yet are you not much more valuable to me than Sparky?” The word valuable that Jesus used in Matthew 6:26 in the Aramaic is the word is meyatra which comes from a Semitic root meaning to be prized or precious.
We sit there like a spoiled child, “I want my miracle, I want my financial blessing, I want my healing.” Jesus just stands there and says, “Come here, I have something better than all that, You are my most precious possession and I want to give you a big hug and never let you go.”
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