Finding Myself in the Old Testament

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I love the Israelites.
As a kid I couldn't understand what their problem was; here it is they see the Red Sea parted before them and their enemies drowned behind them and three days later, THREE DAYS, they're all whining in the wilderness that they're hungry and there's no food.
I couldn't believe anyone's memory could be that short!

As an adult I find I resemble them more than I care to admit...

I don't think it's a matter of memory so much as it is of intensity.
Life comes at you fast and we deal with stuff and then, bam, we're onto the next thing and by the time a week passes the thing that was so huge and important a week ago is practically forgotten. There's no time to sit on the couch and mediate on the good things, something else is pounding on the door for attention!

That's why I love the Israelites because they never really seemed to get it. They'd praise, and then they'd complain and then He'd provide and they'd praise and then three days later start complaining again...they're so ME...

The beauty of the Israelites story though is not in their humanness but in how God deals with them. He loves them, faithfully, through all the cycles of praise and complaint, of rejection and repentance, not only through their lifetimes but for generations.

The Israelites I read of in the Bible are dead and gone but God is the same God.

The God who took care of them is the same God who takes care of me.
He has compiled quite a resume throughout the record of Scripture.
So what am I worrying about?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Never is it so evident that we are his children..and OH Boy, don't we act like little children sometimes. Thank God for his grace and patience.
December 10, 2008 at 1:16 PM
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