Exodus - What Not To Do

The Israelites exodus from their slavery in Egypt can be found in detail in the book of Exodus. Though this took place thousand of years ago, there are some patterns we can see that we should not follow. Please view what I am saying under the light of the Gospel of Jesus: a Gospel of Grace.

The Israelites were in slavery to Egypt but God wanted to be their salvation and lead them to a promised land (promised to their ancestors) so that they could live a free life. So God sent Moses to lead them out.

At first, Egypt refused to let them go but when they saw God working miracles through Moses, they finally consented. As Israel was leaving, the Egyptians changed their minds and pursued them to kill them.

This is where the Israelites trouble really began.

They began to complain against God and doubt Him. They let their fear consume them and they became paralyzed. Of course, God is faithful and rescued them. He completely wiped out the Egyptian army and showed Israel how powerful He was. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Israel from complaining. Every time there was an issue the same feelings of resentment came up. They complained.

• Complaining or blaming God is a dangerous first step into unbelief. Allowing your heart to walk down this path is essentially walking into death and is exactly what the devil wants. Take Job, for instance. Satan robbed him and yet he blamed God.

Israel continued until they reached Mt. Sinai. Here they received the Law, but not before an interesting sequence of events. In a tone of arrogance, they claimed that (before God gave the Law) they could do anything he commanded. Then God put restrictions on them punishable by death.

• Do not think you can merit yourself before God. God loves to give freely (Romans 4:4-8). Under Christ we are blessed freely. Meriting what you do causes self-righteousness (self-reliance) and arrogance. This causes a disdain for Grace (Galatians 5:4).

After receiving the Law from God, Israel continued toward its destination. This place (the promised land) was supposed to be a comfortable place of rest. Unfortunately, the people of Israel came to a point of total unbelief. When they realized they had to first drive people out of the promised land, they were afraid because they thought they were too weak and again they complained. Because of this, God didn't allow them to enter. Instead they wandered for 40 years until all of those who doubted were dead.

• A combination of self-merit and bitterness towards God led to unbelief, which is anti-faith. When we don't believe the Lord has done something for us, we won't have confidence. For instance, if I don't believe Jesus forgave all of my sins on the cross, I will continually think God is against me. Jesus has promised to never leave us. A lack of belief in His promise and finished work causes us to lose our peace (Hebrews 4:3).

People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord. Proverbs 19:3

So, what not to do?

• Don't blame God. He is the one fighting for you.
• Stop trying to ear God's love. Self-effort causes a disdain for His free grace.
• Unbelief in God's goodness (in His Good News) will cause you to wander without any peace.

Hope big

The things that you hope for will be limited to the knowledge you have of the things that you can hope for and faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1). In other words, if you don't know what you can hope for you will never have faith that those things will happen.

Many people are confused by the will of God because they don't have a firm foundation of the Gospel of Grace. They have just heard everyone else's opinion and have come to conclusions based on what they heard. A phrase commonly used is "We can never understand God or His will" or something along those lines.

While I believe God is amazingly big and awesome and mind blowing - I disagree.

You have heard this before -

no eye has seen,

no ear has heard,
and no human mind has conceived”

the things God has prepared for those who love him.

No one ever reads the following verses. Look at the Message translation for 1 Corinthians 2:9-13:

No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,

Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
Wow.
This is all based on the knowledge that you have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. He doesn't come and go. He is always there. Let me let you in on a little secret - the list of things you can hope for (an ultimately have faith will happen) is much bigger than you can conceive. But He will continually show you!
Here is a small list for starters -
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103)