Psalm 106:12-13 (NIV) Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold.

I have many times read the accounts in the Word of God about the exodus of the people of God who were slaves in Egypt and about how the Lord used Moses to deliver them from Pharoah’s hand. Then there is the account of how God parted the Red Sea like a curtain, allowing Moses and the people to not only cross the sea, but to cross it on dry ground. When Pharoah, who had second thoughts about letting the people go, pursued them with his army, the sea closed up, drowning them all. The people, as the verse above tells us, then believed what God had promised about leading them safely to the Promised Land and they sang praises to Him. But that was short-lived. Soon after that display of power from Almighty God, they began to complain and wound-up convincing Aaron (the brother of Moses) to melt their gold and jewelry to forge a golden calf for them to worship. Unbelievable!

That’s what I always think when I read that story. It is truly unbelievable that they would do that after not only walking through the Red Sea, but also after having seen with their own eyes the plagues that the Lord sent to Pharoah and the Egyptian people when Pharoah refused to let the people go. We judge them as a terribly ungrateful people and are quick to condemn them until it dawns on us that we pretty much have done the same thing. After the many things that the Lord has done for us and the many times that He rescued us out of our troubles, we all have at some point failed Him miserably as well. The Israelites quickly forgot all that God had done for them but then again, we haven’t fared so well either. Without having spoken to any of you that are reading this, I can tell you something about yourself. You have failed God at some point in your life and many of you (along with me) have failed Him multiple times. Perhaps something happened along the way that you were not happy about or perhaps God didn’t answer a prayer of yours the way that you wanted or expected, and you forgot about His previous kindnesses to you and you didn’t wait to see how God’s plan would ultimately unfold. In short, we are all like the Israelites.

That is a very humbling revelation and it lines up with what the scriptures tell us: there is no one righteous, not even one of us (Romans 3:10). That what makes God so amazing and unequaled. His mercy and His grace are beyond understanding. In my own life, I am amazed at how patient the Lord was with me during my backslidings. Instead of giving me what I deserved, He rescued me from myself and from my sins and loved me back into His arms. There is no one like our God. The best thing for every one of us to do is to never, ever forget what the Lord has done for us. When things get hard and difficult, let’s wait until His plan unfolds, for He has promised to work everything together for our good (Romans 8:28). Let’s love Him and praise Him for the rest of our days until we see Jesus face to face. 

Pastor Joey Vazquez