Exodus 15-22: Liberty and Liberality

Okay so let's keep it brief today.  In Exodus 16:3 we find a lie that all of us will constantly encounter as we live lives of greater surrender in service to God.  The following accusation will be leveled against God by the world, the devil and even our flesh:  Exodus 16:3   And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.  There will be times when we, like the children of Israel, will be tempted to say or at least think, "Things were better before I became a Believer."

So what is the cure for this type of thinking?  A good dose of reality will help.  I was not in Egypt with the children of Egypt but I am sure that if the Egyptians were not willing to give them straw to make their own  bricks they were probably not feasting by the flesh pots and eating bread to the full.  We need to evaluate our days of being lost not based on the struggles that we now face with the flesh but upon the bondage and tyranny of the flesh prior to salvation.  It is true that before salvation we were free to do whatever happened to pop into our minds, but it was also true that we were really not enjoying this freedom and many of the things that we occupied our time with were not the result of desire but of compulsion.  We were the slaves of alcohol, drugs, pornography, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness and a host of other things.  We need to look at the reality that we have been made free in Christ Jesus.  Let us determine to stop romanticizing and be real.

We also need to take a good look at the provisions that God has made for us in Christ Jesus.  The children of Israel came to the waters of Marah and could not drink the water because it was bitter, but God provided a means to make the water sweet.  They complained of a lack of food and God rained bread out of heaven and supplied their need.  In Horeb the people again found themselves without water and God brought forth water out of the rock for them.  So what is in this for us?  God has provided the same things in the Lord Jesus Christ for us Who declares Himself to be the Bread of Life and the Living Water.  There is satisfaction in Christ for our every need and abundant provisions.

So when we are experiencing the battles of the Christian life what are we to do?  We are to remember the liberty that God has given us and God's liberality towards us in Christ and stay in the fight.

Daily Devotional:  1 Samuel 15:17-23  Saul Fails and Is Rejected By God