Digging in Deeper: Exodus 16:1-3

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“The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt. The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Kids can be whiny. I know this. I have three of them. If you have kids, yours are whiny too. I was whiny when I was a kid. Whiny kids is a natural part of life. They do it because they want what they want (like all of us do), but they don’t have any power to get what they want. So, they use the only tactic they think they do have: to irritate the world around them into giving it to them. Kids have to be taught by loving parents not to do this or else they will grow up to be whiny adults. Whiny adults are a sad thing to see. They are an even more irritating thing to experience. The roots of whining actually go deeper than this, though. More than merely a lack of power, they reveal a lack of something else the next part of the story of Israel’s journey into the wilderness gives us the chance to explore.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 15:25-27

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“So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there. He said, ‘If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.’ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had a teachable moment? It doesn’t really matter right now if you were the student or the teacher in it. Teachable moments come along every now and then and bring with them the opportunity to impart possibly life-changing information or wisdom. Israel’s experience at the waters at Marah provided just such an opportunity for the Lord. Let’s take a moment to think through what God had to teach them, why it mattered, and why it points to something important about the nature of our relationship with Him.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 15:22-24

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“Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter – that is why it was named Marah. The people grumbled to Moses, ‘What are we going to drink?'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are some stories that just stick with you. One my dad told a lot when I was growing up, and which I have now told my own boys often enough that when I start it they say, ‘We know. You and Grandpa have both told us before,’ is about one of his teachers in school. Every day the teacher would flip a coin. If it was heads, they had a pop quiz. If it was tails, they didn’t. Sometimes life throws tests our way that we don’t want or expect. How we handle those, though, matters a lot. They both test and reveal our character. Israel didn’t get very far into their journey before they experienced one of these tests. It became a story that would eventually be told a lot. Let’s talk about it.

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Do Miracles Matter?

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This week we are tackling the second tough question that is sometimes thrown at the feet (or in the face) of followers of Jesus in our series, Confident in the Face of Hard Questions. The Scriptures talk about all kinds of different miracles that were performed by Jesus, the disciples, or one of the prophets in the Old Testament. In a world that prides itself on being modern and scientific and able to explain everything by means of purely empirical methods, these stories represent a pretty stout challenge to accepting the claims of Christianity. It would be easier if we could explain them away or otherwise get rid of them and just stick with the things Jesus said. But is that the best path forward? Do miracles really matter? Let’s talk about it as we move into this second part of our journey.

Do Miracles Matter?

It’s not much of a secret around here that I am a Kansas basketball fan. And, just because I want you to know that I am fully aware of Jesus’ command to love our enemies, I am not going to bring up the 2022 Championship at all…even though it would have worked really well for this illustration. You’re welcome. I want to turn the clock back just a little bit further than that to the 2008 season. That year, KU was playing in the Championship game against a Memphis team everyone knew was going to win. KU had been good all season, but Memphis was just better. And, although the game was close at times, with about 2 minutes left in the game, we were down by 9 and everybody knew it was over. Then we scored, and the gap closed to 7. Then we got a stop. Then we scored again, but so did they. Back and forth it went with our slowly chipping away at their lead. Finally, the clock had ticked all the way down to just seconds remaining in the game. And we had the ball. After a frantic inbounds and scramble to get someone open, freshman guard Sherron Collins (who would go on to have a very successful career at Kansas) got the ball into the hands of junior point guard Mario Chalmers who sunk a three from way beyond the top of the key with 2.1 seconds remaining to tie the game, sending it into an overtime that we won decisively. 

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Peter 1:3

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As far as the world is concerned, the way of Jesus is a way of weakness and failure. Well, weakness in a world dominated by what is perceived as strength invites aggressive people to challenge and persecute those who are given the unfortunate label. Those people and institutions and even nations that are thought to be weak are made into targets. They can become scapegoats for all kinds of problems. Eventually they are seen as less than fully human, and once that particular line is crossed in the minds of their adversaries, a whole range of awful things suddenly fall within the realm of reasonable, acceptable, and even good to do to them. The apostle Peter, who had once fully bought into the world’s narrative of strength, opens his first letter by offering praise to God because of the living hope He has given us through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The trouble with a resurrection hope is that it starts with a death. In this case it was a voluntary death that was not resisted. The world sees that as weakness and responds accordingly. How do we live with a living hope in a world that doesn’t understand such a thing?

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