“Then the LORD said to Moses, “‘I will rain down bread from heaven to you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”
~ Exodus 16:4
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you grumblers? Do you grumble when your dad and/or ma tells you to do something that you do not want to do? Do you grumble when you do not get what you want? Do you grumble when you do not get your way? The Israelite people group’s guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals, did grumbling. Moses in Exodus 16 recounts a time when the Israelite people group’s guys and gals grumbled to God. God’s specially chosen guys and gals forty-five days earlier had packed up their stuff, gathered their animals and left their homes in Goshen, Egypt. God’s specially chosen guys and gals had been living comfortably in Goshen as Goshen was one of the better places in Egypt to live. The only downside of living in Egypt for the Israelite people group’s guys and gals was that they did not have a choice but to do what Egyptian guys were forcing them to do. God’s specially chosen guys and gals before they left Egypt witnessed God triggering ten very different, very miraculous, very destructive plagues that wreaked havoc on the Egyptian guys, gals and kids. Shortly after the Israelite people group’s guys and gals were finally given permission by the Egyptian Pharaoh to leave Egypt – for the Israelite people group’s guys and gals to begin the at least two hundred mile trek to the land that God had promised over five hundred years earlier to their forefathers – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their extended families would always have as their very own land to live in, they found themselves trapped between a sea and the Egyptian Pharaoh’s army. The Egyptian Pharaoh changed his mind after the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids had left Egypt – deciding that he wanted to keep the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids living in his country so . . . the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids were saved by God when God opened a wide path through the sea by parting the sea’s water. When the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids got to the other side of the sea with their stuff and animals, God closed the wide path that He had caused to open up through the sea drowning the Egyptian Pharaoh and his army. In spite of seeing and knowing that God’s presence was literally right there with them, in spite of seeing and knowing that God miraculously had saved them and helped them and in spite of knowing that they were on their way to a place that they would always have as their very own to live in, God’s specially chosen guys and gals still grumbled.
If you had been an Israelite people group kid who was living about 3500 years ago, would you have grumbled, too? You would have walked for days in a desert called the Desert of Sin. You would be hot and tired. Your dad and ma were running out of food to give you to eat. Your dad and ma are sure that they and you are going to die in the desert. Your dad and ma are really wishing they had never left the house that they had lived in in Goshen, Egypt. Forty days after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Bolivia with your dad and Aunt Lynn, your grandpaa wrote down his thoughts and feelings about being in Bolivia in what he titled ‘Forty Days’. Your grandpaa wrote down a number of his thoughts by beginning with what if. One of the Bolivian South American field team missionaries told your grandmaa and grandpaa a day after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Bolivia, that your Aunt Lynn could be kidnapped because Bolivian guys and gals really liked kids whose hair was as blond as your Aunt Lynn’s hair. Your grandpaa wrote in the missive that he called ‘Forty Days’ what if your grandmaa and grandpaa had known that your Aunt Lynn could be kidnapped, would your grandmaa and grandpaa still have gone to Bolivia as missionaries. After your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn arrived in Bolivia at the end of August of 1978, your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn stayed for their first month in Bolivia at the South American Mission’s mission base. The South American Mission’s mission base was in Santa Cruz. The couple who ran the mission base had two boys. The couple’s oldest kid had a motorcycle. Not long after your dad was in Bolivia, the kid who had the motorcycle asked your dad if he would like to go to a circus with him. Your dad the next day decided that he had to tell your grandmaa and grandpaa what took place the night before when your dad went with the kid on his motorcycle. After your dad told your grandmaa and grandpaa what had happened, your grandmaa and grandpaa set up a time to talk to the Bolivia South American Mission Field Director and the Director of SAMAir. The Director of SAMAir told your grandmaa and grandpaa in their meeting together that the kid who had the motorcycle was a pathological liar. A pathological liar is a guy or gal who cannot stop telling boldface lies. Your grandpaa wrote in what your grandpaa called ‘Forty Days’ what if your grandmaa and grandpaa had known that a kid who was a pathological liar would lie to use a kid like your dad to . . ., would your grandmaa and grandpaa still have gone to Bolivia as missionaries.
God heard His specially chosen guys and gals grumbling. Moses recorded in verse 4 what God told him that He was willing to do for His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “‘I will rain down bread from heaven to you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” Your grandpaa knows that if he had known what was going to happen when God . . . your grandpaa probably would not have done many of the things that God has blessed your grandmaa and grandpaa in having your grandmaa and grandpaa do in Bolivia. Even though your grandmaa and grandpaa have sometimes experienced stress, Just as God patiently taught His specially chosen guys and gals that they did not have to grumble, God is teaching your grandpaa not to grumble.
Exodus 16 (293)