What do I mean by that? Even so we know God is there to help us and protect us, when we have to deal with problems, we worry, panic and who knows what else. But we are not the only ones, lets look at some examples from the Bible.
A brief background to what we are going to read. The Israelites where enslaved in Egypt. What did they want more then anything? They wanted freedom. God sent Moses to lead them out of that country. At this point they have left Egypt and are out in the dessert.
EX 13:20 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
I think we can say that they new God was there. It should have been pretty obvious and everyone should have been able to see it. After they left Egypt, the Pharaoh decided to go after them to try to bring them back.
EX 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, `Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
So what happened? Even so they should have known God was there, they panicked and where terrified. The reason they where terrified is because they where up against the Red Sea and they couldn't see a way out. You would think that shouldn't have happened with God right there. But what does God do? Lets see.
EX 14:13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
EX 14:15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
Most everybody has heard the story or seen a movie of the parting of the sea. God protects them using Moses and parted the sea to allow them to cross and all the Egyptians where drowned.
EX 15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: "I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. EX 15:2 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. EX 15:3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. ………………
It ends with:
EX 15:18 The LORD will reign for ever and ever."
They are totally jazzed. Does this fix it? What do you think happened the next time they had problem? This is 3 days later they have run out of water and the water they found is bad.
EX 15:24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
In other words, they already seemed to have forgotten what he did for them the last time they needed help. What does God do? He fixes it by using Moses to drop a piece of would into the water that fixes the water. What about after a little time goes by? On the 15th day of the second month this happens: They where hungry and my guess is they where probably running out of food.
EX 16:3 The Israelites said to them, (MOSES and Aron) "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."
EX 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you.
God took care of them again. And some time later:
EX 17:3 … the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
What I am trying to show you is that this is a pattern. God helped the Israelites time and time again, but every time there was a problem they seemed to forget that God was watching over them and they would panic, complain and whatever else.
What does that have to do with us?
We go through these cycles. Things go good for a while. We run into problems. God provides and takes care of us. The Bible says:
PS 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
The problem is we forget God will help us. We forget God uses others in our life to help us. If we can remind ourselves of all the times God has helped us and hang on to that in a time of crisis, things will go a lot better. We will be able to face life's problems a lot better and we will be less likely to get down and out.
