This post is part of my ongoing series of writing down my thoughts on the Bible passages I read each day. Some days I hope to have great insight that the Lord gives me, and many days, I will likely struggle through the text and not know what to write down based on what I read. My hope and prayer is that as I make this a habit, just as I did daily writing for so long, that I will improve on my ability to read and understand the passages I’m reading. Please keep in mind that many of these posts may be published late at night or with little time studying and simply be my first thoughts after reading. This is in no way a commentary that one should use to discern the Bible, but my own personal thoughts.

Israel tends to be a nice target for us when we’re looking at someone who constantly turns away from God and then is brought back to Him. From the time of Joseph to the times of the last kings of Israel, they pursued God at times, and ran away from Him at times.

What’s so interesting to me is that God constantly uses Moses to tell Israel not to forget all that God has done for them. In verse 8 of chapter 13 he says: “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

He appoints feasts and traditions to help them remember what they have come from and what God has done, yet over and over again in the old testament we see one generation of Israel turn back to God, and the very next turn away. It seems that there was a miscommunication between the generations. What one generation learned, they didn’t pass down to the next. As you think about it, it’s really not all that different from how generations today function. There’s a pendulum swing between each generation.

One generation has a tendency to swing to one side, and the next generation has the tendency to swing as hard as they can the other way. It’s almost as if it’s in our rebellious sinful nature to do so.

In chapter 15, the people of Israel sing a song to God. Glorifying Him for bringing them out of Egypt and for saving them Pharoh in the Red Sea. As you read through the chapter you can almost feel the joy that they feel from finally being free.

…But then, in the EXACT same chapter, the people complain about not having water to drink. We think that’s ridiculous, but it does say that they went three days in the wilderness with no water. I’m not sure how long you’ve gone without water, but I would probably be pretty nervous at that point also.

At the end of the day, I think it simply shows me that our circumstances can change so fast. In the course of one day, our entire worldly life can change. That’s why we must have something that’s unchangeable and never moving. We can always come to God. At the end of Exodus 15, God gives the people of Israel a promise:

“There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, ‘If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.’”

I suppose we shall see what Israel does with this rule…