Faith and Accusation

The Israelites have just witnessed God perform magnificent signs and wonders. By the miraculous power of His hand He has freed them from the Egyptian Pharaoh—God had liberated the nation from slavery.

On their Exodus out of Egypt the Hebrews camped alongside the Red Sea. At this point Pharaoh decided to pursue them with his army. Exodus 14:10-14 gives an account of this confrontation:

As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD. Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent."

In a moment of trial, how easy is it to respond like the Israelites and accuse God? How hard is it to respond like Moses and wait on God and trust in Him for our deliverance?

When circumstances mount against us and life gets difficult or painful do we turn against God or do we turn to Him? Do we accuse Him of being the source of evil and blame Him for our hardships? Do we impute base motives upon Him? Do we demand an explanation of Him? Demand that he tell us why He allows evil in this world and in our lives?

Or are we like Moses? Are we grounded in the Rock of our Salvation? Do we cling tightly to this foundation in the midst of this storm?

Moses’ faith in God is not ill-founded; when He trusted in God, God delivered. Trials, suffering, evil, and hardship are a part of life. We live in a fallen world and these things constitute the consequences of sin. We cannot control what challenges life will bring against us; we can only control our response. And if we respond rightly these hardships help us to grow in character and faith (James 1: 2-4).

Since we have to endure trials, why not experience the deliverance in God? Only by trusting in God may we see and experience the deliverance of God. ‘The man who doubts is like a wave, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from God.’ (James 1:6+7). When we doubt we don’t mature in faith and character and we prevent God from delivering us.

God invites all of us to enter into His glorious salvation. All who accept this invitation are welcomed just as they. But though God accepts us as we are, He will not allow us to remain unchanged. After being delivered from the slavery of sin, we may be content to be servants in the House of God. But God desires that we be His sons and daughters.

We may not be bothered by our fear, lust, cowardice, ignorance, or selfishness. But God wants us to be mature and complete, not lacking in anything. We were created to wise and strong, loving and courageous, generous and kind. We may want to only give a part of our lives to God, but He won’t settle for anything less than all. He wants us reign with Him as kings and priests and is constantly working in our lives to make us fit for that role.

The transition from slave to son is painful, but necessary. And it occurs primarily through trials. God wants us to love Him when we feel unloved, trust Him when circumstances accuse Him, and learn to rely on Him. These things can only happen when we have reason to doubt His love, when hardships occur that accuse God, and we are placed in a situation that we cannot get ourselves out of. God wants to deliver us by His mighty hand, but in order to do this we need to have our back against a wall (or a sea).

I wonder how often we miss seeing the deliverance of God because we give up at the last moment. How often do we lose faith and accuse God and take matters into our own hands (and thereby prevent Him from intervening) an instant before God was about to act? But there is hope if we head Moses’ advice and stand firm without fear and wait on God. That is the moment we will see and experience the deliverance of God.