Toward God’s Ways

Summary

Now in today’s story, the Israelites have just been freed from slavery in Egypt. They watched as the Red Sea divided, miraculously opening a way for them, and after all they had been through, they “believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” (Exodus 14:31) They had been saved and they were grateful.

But soon they find themselves in the wilderness, away from everything that they know. They have no food to eat. And their fears begin to creep back in. So they complain to Moses and Aaron, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert, to starve this whole assembly to death.” (v 3)

After six weeks in to the wilderness, the Lord’s salvation is becoming a distant memory, and they might rather go back to the bondage in Egypt than face this unknown.