The Wilderness

After God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  In the Bible, the wilderness is the place where the promise of God is repeatedly attacked.  God had promised His coming Christ to the Israelites and chosen them as the people through whom He would eventually be born.  They had seen God’s presence in a pillar of cloud or fire that led their camp wherever they went.  God continued to provide for their bodily needs each day, even in the wilderness, by giving them as much manna as they could eat.  Still, God’s promise was under constant attack.

What did these attacks look like?  The Israelites looked at their situation in the wilderness and saw only misfortune.  We, too experience these attacks. Though God is faithful to every promise He has given us, we often look at our own situations and become overwhelmed with fear and doubt.  

So what did the Israelites do?  They complained.  In other words, they didn’t trust what God had promised them.  Sound familiar?  We do this, too.  And the result?  God was angry.  His anger burned against them and consumed parts of the Israelite’s camp.

Now, you might think that witnessing God’s wrath against sin firsthand would cause people to stop complaining–but you’d be wrong.  In fact, they only got worse. Their sin actually increased.  The law increases the trespass (Romans 5:20).  Convinced that God was holding back from them, now the people whined about food.  The manna that God gave wasn’t enough–they wanted meat!  And cucumbers!  And melons, leeks, onions, and garlic!  How do you suppose God responded to all their complaining?

“The anger of the LORD blazed hotly” (Numbers 11:10).  

So Moses cried out to God: “I am not able to deal with the people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.”  Moses knew he couldn’t deal with the burden of all their unbelief–their sin. It would crush him.  The Law and Commandments that he had delivered to the people of Israel hadn’t brought an end to their sin; in fact, it only made them worse!

Finally, this is what the Law and Commandments do: reveal–and even increase–our sin, and show us that we need a Savior.  God uses the Law and our sin to drive us away from our own ability and toward His promise of eternal salvation in Jesus Christ.  While Moses says, “I can’t take it,” Jesus comes to say, “I take all your sin from you.”

Christ’s grace and peace to you,

Pastor Raleigh