The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” -Exodus 16:11-12

Let’s jump back to the Israelites, post-Egypt, as mentioned in the previous post in this series. They’d lived through torment under Pharaoh, but rescued by the Lord in the Red Sea when there clearly was no future in sight…it looked like death was imminent. And they doubted their rescue, because they only saw death by sword or drowning in the sea. It’s as if they tuned out the Lord’s promise to save them.

Then, they went through the desert, but not without some serious complaining and backseat driving. Despite all their time out and about in the wilderness, the Lord provided for them. At one point, God even gave them quail out of their ears AND manna He freely gave them. He gave them water from rocks…ROCKS!…when there was no water to be found.

God is patient and gracious, is He not? He even supplies our needs when we’re doing a less than great job following His lead.

So don’t be discouraged when you’re stumbling or even complaining to the Lord about your situation. He does hear you. Just remember to count your blessings, because you actually have more than you can stay awake to count from the moment you rise to the moment you fall asleep.

And having that attitude of gratitude sure makes the journey easier when your perspective can see blessings all around you. When you do that, the more obvious blessings are that much sweeter.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them. -John Piper

The Israelites had some seriously tough slogs.

Take the 40 years they trudged around in the desert…day by day, night by night, setting up and taking down camp…with no sign of change in sight…before they reached the Promised Land.

Through it all, God provided for them. He fed them quail and manna. They never lacked for food or water. Their clothes never wore out. Their feet never got sore—for FORTY YEARS!

And yet, they grumbled and whined through it all.

It would be easy for us to judge, but do we not do the same in our day to day lives, when we likely don’t face any of the same conditions they did? And yet, He provides for us every day, blessing us in small and large, and seen and unseen, ways.

Just remember to have faith that He is working quietly and often invisibly through each trial…and it’ll be more apparent to our feeble brains afterward. Feed on His manna—He will never leave you lacking!—and you will always have enough to make it to out of the valley.

This excellent excerpt comes from author Jennifer Kennedy Dean:

During their extended training in the desert, they learned by
experience to trust the hand of God. For example, He fed them with
manna day by day. If God had not sent the day’s manna, they would
have starved in the wilderness. Every morning required confidence in
God’s provision. See how Moses warns them to remember the desert
days when they get into the Promised Land?

Read the rest of “That It May Go Well With You” »