God is the Source of Strength

    Israel had just witnessed the destruction of the remainder of Pharoah's strength. That was a series of notable miracles. The Pillar of fire kept the Egyptians from attacking, the Red Sea parted long enough to get 2-3 million people across (it took all night), the wheels fell off of the Egyptian's chariots and then the walls of water came down on them but not on the Children of Israel. WOW! But how long do they remember what God is able to do?

Exodus 15
:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea,
    and they went out into the wilderness of Shur;
    and they went three days in the wilderness,
    and found no water.
:23 And when they came to Marah,
    they could not drink of the waters of Marah,
        for they were bitter:
    Therefore the name of it was called Marah. [Bitterness]
:24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying,
    What shall we drink?     [Here they go again]

    According to Strong's Hebrew Lexicon the word murmur is the Hebrew word lewn or leen, a primitive root word with several usages: to stop (usually over night); by implication, to stay permanently; hence (in a bad sense) to be obstinate (especially in words, to complain). The usage of this word as obstinate is only used in reference to the Children of Israel before they reached the promised land. They grumbled frequently and wanted to stay where they had been before.

:25 And he [Moses] cried unto the Lord;
    and the Lord shewed him a tree,
        which when he had cast into the water,
        the waters were made sweet:
    there he made for them a statute and an ordinance,
    and there he proved them.
:26 And said,
    If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,
        and wilt do that which is right in his sight,
        and wilt give ear to his commandments,
        and keep all his statutes,
    I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
        which I have brought upon the Egyptians:
    for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

    Here they are murmuring again but God dispels their fear and they believe, at least for a while.

Exodus 16
:1 And they took their journey from Elim,
    and all the congregation of the children of Israel
    came unto the wilderness of Sin,
        which is between Elim and Sinai,
    on the fifteenth day
    of the second month
    after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
:2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel
    murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. [What, again?]
: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.

    They did not believe that God could provide for them in the wilderness, He had just rescued them from the strongest nation on earth, healed every one of them and gave them fresh water out of bitter, undrinkable water. Now they are attacking Moses' and Aaron's credibility. Put yourself in Moses shoes (sandals?), if you listened to the Children of Israel you would get discouraged, and won't believe God, you would give up and be negative with them But he didn't. He continued to look to the Lord God of Israel. If he had a problem he went to God. If they needed something he prayed to God. The children of Israel looked at the circumstances. Moses looked to God. Faithfulness is a great quality of Moses, it is why he is spoken of so well. He continued to believe God no matter what the situation or circumstances were like or what the people did. It is wonderful when people who believe God surround you and they can encourage you to believe, but what are you going to do when you are not surrounded by believing people? Moses is a good example, he was surrounded by millions of people that were supposedly Believers, and he could have said "Well gee, all the other Believers are negative and all bummed out." He could have come up with all sorts of excuses, but he didn't he looked to God.

    Here is our great challenge as Believers: to so look at the Word of God that it doesn't matter what anybody or anything says or does. What about Joseph, was he surrounded by a lot of wonderful Believers (no)? What about his brothers? What did they do for him? They wanted to get rid of him. Joseph was better off with the prisoners in Egypt, he got along a lot better with them. Of course God had a hand in that situation. He also has a hand in yours. This is not to say that you want to ignore everyone around you but you have to be honest where your information comes from and where your help comes from; make it the true God. Being around other Believers is profitable to the end that they encourage you to believe God. That is what is profitable. But when Believers don't encourage you to believe God you must go solely to God. God's Word is the source, God's Word is where we get strength and our victory.

:4 Then said the Lord unto Moses,
    Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you;
    and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day,
    that I may prove them,
    whether they will walk in my law or no.
:5 And it shall come to pass,
    that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in;
    and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
:6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel,
    At even, then ye shall know
    that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:
:7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord;
    for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord:
    and what are we, that ye murmur against us?
:8 And Moses said,
    This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat,
    and in the morning bread to the full;
        for that the Lord heareth your murmurings
        which ye murmur against him:
    and what are we?
        your murmurings are not against us,
        but against the Lord.

    The children of Israel weren't murmuring against Moses and Aaron they were in fact murmuring against God. Moses and Aaron where just carrying out the Word of God. The people didn't want to believe the Word of God that Moses and Aaron spoke.

    See what Moses had to contend with while believing God for deliverance:
            BUT
    When he was challenged, difficulty did not mean defeat.

    God worked with Moses to preserve the Christ-line. He knew he wouldn't cave in.

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