I remember a time when I was appointed to be an event planner for our denomination.  It was a yearly event that had something for everyone.  This event brought people from many states and a few countries to gather for learning, growing in God’s ways, gaining encouragement for their ministries, along with the joy of meeting others from other cultures and backgrounds who had the same needs—Jesus at the Center.  We planned separate times of learning during the day for pastors, teachers, youth leaders, women, laymen, youth, children, and infants.  We brought in well-known speakers who spoke words of wisdom, select worship bands who led us to praise God, and even a few Christina comedians to lift our spirits.  This took a lot prayer, asking for God’s will and provision and He provided.  It still thank God for all He taught me as a leader through the trials and victories as youth, young and old adults saw the benefits of believing and following Jesus as Lord of our lives. 

But then there was the grumbling a week later as I read the “evaluations” of those present. Most praised God for how He worked in their hearts and filled their souls.  But there was the one who angrily let us know that we showed our prejudice against those who preferred tea because only coffee, water, and cookies were served on the breaks.  It was a lengthy letter, in all caps, to let us know she was not happy.  I cried as I read her words that day in my office. My first thoughts were pity for her, thinking, how did you miss Jesus present with us, His Holy Spirit filling us, with the encouragement seeing many come to dedicate their lives to Christ?  How did you miss the praises of all who gathered with God’s Presence still aglow in our hearts? 

But we humans do this.  We can go from praising God with all that is in us for all He has done for us to grumbling in a nanosecond when the next trial comes that needs to be solved.  Lord, I repent of grumbling…for I would rather “shine like the stars” you created so all will know you are God and no one else!  

And who knew Moses and Miriam were rock stars?!

Exodus 15

The Song of Moses and Miriam

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord,
    for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
    he has hurled into the sea.

² “The Lord is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
³ The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.
⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
    he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
    are drowned in the Red Sea.^[b]
5 The deep waters have covered them;
    they sank to the depths like a stone.
⁶ Your right hand, Lord,
    was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord,
    shattered the enemy.

⁷ “In the greatness of your majesty
    you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
    it consumed them like stubble.
⁸ By the blast of your nostrils
    the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall;
    the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
⁹ The enemy boasted,
    ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
    I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
    and my hand will destroy them.’
¹⁰ But you blew with your breath,
    and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
    in the mighty waters.
¹¹ Who among the gods
    is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
    majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
    working wonders?

¹² “You stretch out your right hand,
    and the earth swallows your enemies.
¹³ In your unfailing love you will lead
    the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
    to your holy dwelling.
¹⁴ The nations will hear and tremble;
    anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
¹⁵ The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
    the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people of Canaan will melt away;
¹⁶     terror and dread will fall on them.
By the power of your arm
    they will be as still as a stone—
until your people pass by, Lord,
    until the people you bought pass by.
¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them
    on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling,
    the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.

¹⁸ “The Lord reigns
    for ever and ever.”

¹⁹ When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ²⁰ Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. ²¹ Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord,
    for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
    he has hurled into the sea.”

The Waters of Marah and Elim

²² 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. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. ²⁶ He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Moses and Miriam sang praises to God from their grateful hearts!  All the verses of their songs described in detail what God done to set them free at last from the bondage of slavery and fear of the Egyptians. All God’s people redeemed sang praises!

Then a few days later, when water can’t be found readily in the desert; they grumble.  They are becoming adept at grumbling.  We can almost hear that teenage sarcastic tone to their voices, “What are we to drink?”  I heard the same when my kids were preteens…what is there to drink in this house?  God’s kids are no different.

We often focus on the army behind us and the troubles before us, instead of the path ahead that God has paved for us.  God is Provider.  Jehovah Jireh.  God fixed their water problem and then issued a new lesson of instruction about who God is:

“If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

God is Healer.  Jehovah Rapha.

There will be many lessons that God’s people will learn about who He is and what He does.  Their response will be guided by God for their good and His glory for He is Lord.  God wants His People to see Him for who He really is—The One and Only God who loves and cares for them like no other god!

Our lesson of response:

God sends help at the hour we need it. We don’t have wisdom for tomorrow’s problems. But we will tomorrow. We don’t have resources for tomorrow’s needs. But we will tomorrow. We don’t have courage for tomorrow’s challenges. But we will when tomorrow comes.

God meets daily needs daily and miraculously. He did then, he does still, and he will for you and me. 

Stop and give God praise for all He has provided—in detail just as Moses and Mirium did!

The words of Jesus echo in my mind; 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more 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. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” –Jesus, Matthew 6:25-34

“Do everything without complaining or arguing. Then you will be innocent and without any wrong. You will be God’s children without fault. But you are living with crooked and mean people all around you, among whom you shine like stars in the dark world.”         —Paul, Philippians 2:14-15 NCV

Lord,

Today is a new day. I will rejoice and be glad in it!

In Jesus Name, all for Your glory, Amen!