Dealing With Selective Memory In Our Faith Walk

This morning I opened my bible and I read from where I had last left off in Exodus, and the following verse popped - Exodus 16:3 NIV:  "The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

This is a great example of revisionist history - in the common mindset of the people.  The Israelites seemed to forget that they were slaves in Egypt and had been crying to God to save them!  They were mistreated and beaten and forced to work long hard hours by cruel task masters.  Here are the verses from earlier in Exodus describing their situation - Exodus 1:8-9,11-14 NIV:

[8] "Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. [9] “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us."

[11] "So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. [12] But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites [13] and worked them ruthlessly. [14] They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly."

- and -

Exodus 2:23-24 NIV
[23] "During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. [24] God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob."

I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like sitting around pots of meat, eating all the meat they wanted!  They were remembering the fact that the Egyptians fed them, but were forgetting that they did so so that they could work them ruthlessly!  They were having selective memory and because of it they were accusing God of failing to provide for them.   Here God had done exactly what they asked (freed them from their slavery in Egypt) and was leading them to the promised land, and all they could think of was how good they had it in Egypt!

I heard a great teaching by Bill Johnson a few years back talking about the testing that accompanies extreme obedience.  He was talking about the way the Lord will sometimes allow time or difficulty to test our resolve in our trust in Him. Here is my blog entry on that day - http://amomentwithgod-srh.blogspot.com/2014/05/obeying-into-weakness.html

The point Bill was making was sometimes our obedience leads us into times of greater trusting, and even perceived weakness, before the final fulfillment of God's promise.  In this case today, the Israelites cried out to God.  He answered by mightily working on their behalf, and part of that transition included leading them through the desert, where food and water were scarce.

Rather than focus on the the great things God had done already, they only looked at was immediately in front of them!  Instead of remembering the whole truth and being grateful, they chose to focus on the small (in reference to Slavery in Egypt) issue of being hungry!  It was a legitimate issue, and God is faithful to provide!  However, rather than stay in a place of trust and believing that God had provided so far and already worked miracles, and was sure to do so again, they started accusing God of failing them!  They went immediately to the place of unbelief and accusation, spurred on by their less than perfect memories of how they got there!

This morning I am encouraged to remind myself of all the Lord has done in my life!  I am encouraged to remember His mercy, His compassion, His faithfulness, His intervention in my life, His leading me, His connecting me, His miraculous provision and answers to prayer!  I am encouraged to look at my thoughts and to repent of any unbelief or accusations I am making against Him, realizing that I am clearly not remembering the whole story!

Lord, I am so grateful for all that You have done, and are continuing to do in my life.  I sometimes can't see how or where You are leading me, but I know that You are good, You are faithful and You love me!

Amen!