Where is Your Faith, Part 3

In Exodus 14 the Lord culminates His mighty rescuing of His people from Egypt. The Hebrew people escaped - the Egyptians followed - and God stood in the gap to protect and fight for His people.

The Egyptian enemies boasted, "I will pursue...I will overtake...I will gorge myself on them...my sword will destroy them." But God intervened! He simply blew His breath on them - 'wooo' - and the sea covered them and they sank like lead into the mighty waters! No messing around.

"And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant." (14)

And they sang, "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?
Who is like you --
Majestic in holiness,
Awesome in glory,
Working wonders?
You stretched out Your right hand
And the earth swallowed them.
In Your unfailing love You will lead
The people You have redeemed.
In Your strength You will guide them to
Your holy dwelling." (15:11-13)

Full of praise to God, the people were bursting with spiritual fervor and strengthened faith. This was a place of rich blessing. Imagine seeing God Almighty fight for them, and conquer their enemies.

They may have felt like - this is it! - I can do this life with such an awesome, mighty God in my camp. They felt strengthened in their inner man to stand against any foe with such a God. Victorious! Forever! Set free from slavery, set free to walk intimately with this God who walks so closely with His people. Hallelujah!

But the story does not stop there.

"Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water." (22)

"Then" - Next - What came right after, right on the heels of such great blessing and victorious triumphs? They were led into the desert and had no water for three days.

WHAT? What is the Lord doing? WHY? Why this NOW? We are His people. He has claimed us and fought for us and now we are suffering THIS? What could possibly be the meaning of this?

On the first day as they marched off, following Moses, they walked in full spiritual strength, confident in the Lord and in His ability to provide for them and take care of them. I'm sure they reminded themselves and their children to trust God and hold fast to Him in faith. I can see the beaming faces and the secure steps.

The second day was tougher. They awakened thirsty. A little foot-sore. The adults quieted the thirsty children with encouraging words, heard the lowing sounds of the miserable animals, but walked forth into the new day still holding onto the shirttails of the prior day's victories.

But the third day broke down any spiritual resolve to trust God or even to call upon Him for mercy! That almighty victorious God - He no longer felt near. So much for being God's special people; so much for His promise to guide them and bring them to the promised land. Their steadfastness staggered at this catastrophe.

The people grumbled and groused at Moses, "WHAT are we to drink?"

"...there He tested them." (25) This was a hand-carved test, created just for them.

"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger...to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Deut.8)

Life is comprised of tests, trials, challenges, crisis, and one of the things the Lord is after is our response: to reveal ourselves to ourselves, to expose ourselves to ourselves. He knows our hearts; He knows how we will respond to these tests and how we will handle them. He knows us intimately - but we are blind to ourselves.

He is also testing and proving, stretching and strengthening our faith. Where was the faith of the Israelites at this first test in the desert? It should have been there. Their faith should have undergirded them at this place of dire straits. At the very least, it should have reminded them to cry out to God for help.

He led them to a place where other needs screamed louder than their need and appetite for God, and they failed the test. In their thirst they forgot God. In the immediacy of the crisis - in the middle of acute distress, watching their children and animals suffer - their hearts were hardened toward God. They did not turn to Him in faith. They did not cry out to Him. They did not fall to their knees believing in this Almighty God who performs documented eye-witnessed miracles, beseeching Him to help them. Instead they fretted and sweated and sought human help.

Somehow there was a disconnect between that 'Wow' God of a few days prior, who dealt with the big stuff, and a God who cares today that they are thirsty, and stumbling with fatigue, and listening despairingly to the cries of their children. You don't get the feeling from this passage that this God who led them forth and rescued them was their personal God. You don't sense a heart cry of, 'This is MY God, MY Savior, MY hope and help.'

This was a test of their faith. Where was it?