- Notes from Nathan
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- Exodus 17:3
But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
Freedom can be more trying than the alternative.
Nostalgia can color our memory of the past. For all the difficulties they had in Egypt, the Israelites aren’t staring at that in their new surroundings. They only see their current wilderness and the appearance of what’s lacking. At least Egypt was familiar and consistent.
There was so much staring at the good old days that they missed God’s goodness in the current day.
That initial generation of Israelites never did make it to the Promised Land. They couldn’t get there because they were more willing to hold Egypt in mind than pay attention to God’s current provision in various forms. Their edited memories of Egypt actually had them grumbling they weren’t there anymore.
They were free, but in chains.
Lord, let us not become people who can never move forward because we’re doing so much looking backward. Form us to see your activity, that we’d be people who can move in freedom toward your future. Amen.