How quickly we lose faith in God. Yahweh and Moses and Aaron had just rescued the Hebrews from Pharaoh and slavery, but Yahweh’s unleashing the 10 plagues upon Egypt were still not enough to keep the people believing in a tight spot, for this is how they lost faith when pursued by Pharaoh and his army. Here is the passage from The New American Bible: “Pharaoh was already near when the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great fright they cried out the Lord. And then they complained to Moses, ‘Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians? Far better for us to be slaves in Egypt than to die in the desert.’ But Moses answered the people, ‘Fear not. Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today. These Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”
My response: we all lose faith and doubt God and few of us have the deep faith in God that Moses or Jesus carried in times of trouble. If the loss of faith was not enough, look how these ungrateful ex-slaves are ungrateful and complaining about how rough their lot is. We all act like this today and this shallow faith and easy ingratitude towards God is natural to us all. It is not very pleasant to recognize or observe.
Here is that same passage from the Holy Bible (KJV): “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.
And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Is this not the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness?
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
My response: how short is human memory. When they were slaves, they were miserable and suffering, but now that they face the army in the desert, being caught in the desert is now heaven for this people? Really?
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