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On going back to Egypt

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Melon“Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”” (Numbers 11:4–6, ESV)

With the exception of a few adrenaline junkies, most of us are somewhere on the continuum between petrified to a little unnerved when facing change. Change involves risk and risk is scary.

Yet, very few of us are in situations that are completely bad. We may joke about the only way from here is up, but in reality, for most of us things could get a lot worse or a lot better.

In the Exodus story, we often find the Israelites complaining to Moses about all the good things that they left behind in Egypt. One example is shown in the passage that I have quoted above. They are tired of mana and are remembering some of the good things they had to eat in Egypt. They are in the process of change, having left Egypt they are on the way to the promised land. They do not yet know what they will encounter when they get there and they are sure that they don’t want to continue living where they currently are. They are uncomfortable and irritable.

On the surface it would appear that Scripture is indicating that it is wrong for the Israelites to desire these things.

But, these things are good things in themselves. Who has ever had a sweet, ripe melon in the summer and not enjoyed it? A quick Google search turned up many recipes for cucumber-leek soup, so I assume that many people find the rest of the list tasty. There is nothing wrong with desiring nice things to eat.

What then is the problem?

Part of the problem is that the Israelites have displayed selective memory. They were crying out for deliverance when there were in Egypt and now that it has come, they are crying out to be returned to where they started. The Israelites are choosing to ignore the bad things which forced them to desire change.

Another part of the problem is that they have forgotten the miraculous way that they were delivered from the Egyptians. Not only did God deliver them, He did it in such a way as to leave no-one in doubt as to who is in charge. Egypt was shown the impotence of their gods and Israel came away with the wealth of Egypt. In addition, God had provided supernatural shade during the day and fire at night to keep the Israelites safe on the journey.

The Israelites should have been confident that the God who had delivered them, the God who was delivering them, would also be the God who would bring them to the place of His choosing. Rather than looking to go back, they were supposed to be looking forward. Instead of being driven to complaining, their circumstances should have driven them to worship the God who was delivering them.

For the Christian, the words of the old Gospel song come into play, “this world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through . . .” We are on a journey from death to life. Like the Israelites, we begin in bondage (Eph. 2:1) and are progressing to a promised existence that is free from the wreckage that is caused by sin (2 Cor. 4:17). Also like the Israelites, we know that God promises to be with us on the journey and see us through (Matt. 28:20; Phil. 1:6).

The point is that it is easy to look back on former situations and remember them as better than they really were. It is also easy to lose sight of the fact that God remains in control and promises to use every circumstance in which we find ourselves for his glory and our benefit (Rom. 8:28). It is easy to let our circumstances drive us to complaining rather than worship.

As I write this, I’m painfully aware that there are some, perhaps even some who will read this blog, that are in very difficult circumstances. I’m not trying to trivialize the difficulty or danger of that situation. But in this I have to trust that the righteous judge of all mankind is even more aware of the situation and it does not fall outside of his concern or oversight.

At a worship time last evening, we sang the song “Oceans” which contains the line, “I will . . . keep my eyes above the waves.” When Peter was looking at Jesus, the waves didn’t seem so daunting, it was when he looked down that the panic set in. The author of Hebrews encourages us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2).

If we focus on the promised land and who will dwell there with us, even the good things of Egypt will not be attractive in comparison. As we look to God and allow him to shape our desires and guide us in our decisions, we may encounter difficulty along the way, but we should not lose heart. The end will be better than we can even imagine.

When God makes you wait in the wilderness. . .

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Sinai WildernessCaleb was 85 years old when Israel entered the Promised Land. He was promised this opportunity back in the early days of the Exodus as we read in Numbers 14:24:

“But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

When he was 40 years old, Caleb was one of twelve spies that went into the Promised Land to bring back a report to Moses. Of the twelve, only Joshua and Caleb gave a favorable report. They were in favor of taking on the giants in the land but they stood two against ten. The report of the ten caused the people to respond in fear and rebellion. The people cried out to Moses saying that they would have been better off staying in Egypt. Their fear overruled their faith and they panicked.

This revolt against God was punished by 40 years of wondering in the wilderness where all the men of Caleb’s generation died with the exception of Joshua, the other spy who gave a good report.

While he was waiting 45 years for his inheritance, do you suppose Caleb had moments when he wanted to rant against the people and their hard headed stupidity? Do you think that there were times when he was frustrated with God for making him wait? It would be easy to become bitter while trudging through the wilderness with the people that caused the delay.

Yet, when we see them finally enter the Promised Land, I do not get a sense of any self-pity or bitterness from Caleb. Read what Caleb said to Joshua about his inheritance in Joshua 14:10–12:

10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

Instead of self-pity or bitterness, I get the sense that Caleb spent his time in anticipation and preparation for his eventual inheritance. He kept himself sharp, in shape and ready to conquer. He knew what he would be up against when the time came and he came prepared.

Things don’t always go as planned. Sometimes an expected blessing takes a long time to materialize. I am encouraged by the example of Caleb in that he appears to have used his waiting time wisely. When the opportunity finally came, he was ready to capitalize on it.

It appears that he stayed focused on the God who made the promise and not his circumstances. May we do the same when faced with difficulty!

On wineskins, graves, garlic, leeks and onions

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When a new work is started, the newness brings with it a level of discomfort. We often refer to the old system as tried-and-true, even if the results were less than optimal. The danger is that the new work will be hobbled by those who are determined to force the new work into the old pattern. I have seen this tendency in industry and I’ve seen it in the church.

In Exodus 14:11, shortly after the Israelites left Egypt, it appeared that the Egyptians would wipe them out (discomforting thought). In response, the Israelites cried to Moses “were there no graves in Egypt?”, the assumption being that that death was immanent and that by staying in Egypt they would have avoided that death. They preferred the relative safety of the old way even though it included slavery.

Later on in the Exodus story, the Israelites longed for the “leeks, onions and garlic” that they had in Egypt (Numbers 11:5). During the insecurity of pursuing the new way, it is easy to distort the memory of the wold way an make it seem better than it was. God offers them freedom (with some risk and difficulty) and they prefer slavery.

Jesus spoke against the desire for the old when he warned us against putting new wine into old wineskins (Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22 and Luke 5:37). We should not try to force a new work into an old pattern.

I have been involved in church plants and the church I currently attend was founded somewhere around 13 years ago. I observe in myself and others a tendency to want to bring pieces of previous church experience into the new church. While this is not all bad, a dogged expectation that the new church will provide a similar experience to the previous church experience can be a source of irritation and can even lead to open hostility.

Should we learn from previous experience and continue the pieces of that experience that work well? Yes! If there are methods that are effective, they should be continued. At the same time, we need to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit which may take us in new directions. Learn from the past, but don’t be handcuffed by it.

It is also important to choose your battles wisely. It is one thing to argue for a discipleship method that worked well. It is entirely different to argue over a music style, dress code or other preference issue. The methods can be measured and evaluated. With some issues there is no means of evaluating them and it comes down to personal preference.

The point of this is to ask that we all be wary about prefacing a comment or suggestion with, “At my old church . . . .” There may be good ideas coming out of that experience, but a determination to stick with that experience may cause you to miss out on something even better. The words of James 1:19 come to mind:

But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

What do you think?

Don’t look to Egypt for help

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Isaiah 31:1

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the LORD.

Over the years that I have been in and around the organized church in America, I’ve seen many different ideas as to how to make the church grow. Some are gimmicky, some are Biblically sound. Some give the appearance of working, others are miserable failures.

Many of the efforts to grow churches borrow methods from advertizing and marketing to determine what changes will make the church more appealing to her audience. Perhaps this is akin to Israel looking to Egypt for her help.

The only way for real growth to happen in the church is for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed so that men and women are brought into a growing relationship with Him. We must be faithful in proclaiming the message, God is the one who provides the growth.

I am not saying that the church should not seek feedback as to how effectively she is communicating the Gospel. I am not saying that modern methods of communication should not be used.

What I am saying is that the methods do not save anyone, God does. When the message of the Gospel is changed, or muted to make religion more palatable, when there is reluctance to talk about sin, Hell, judgment and salvation, then the message has been compromised. When the message is compromised, no good will result, no matter how large the budget or how full the parking lot.

When we go to Egypt for help, we may have larger army but it will not be an effective army for the purpose of storming the Gates of Hell.

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