Title: Faith and Gratitude
faith and gratitude
“And Moses brought Israel out of the Red Sea, and they came out and went into the wilderness of Shur, and after three days of walking from there, they came to Marah, where they could not find water, and they called it Mara, because the water was bitter and they could not drink it. What shall we drink?” (Exodus 15:22-24)
I. background of the text
Israel, under Pharaoh's oppression, did not escape from Egypt until after ten great plagues. The first place they reached when they escaped was the Red Sea. He met a great crisis in front of the Red Sea, and it was Pharaoh's change of heart. Pharaoh had no choice but to let the Israelites go, but it seems that many of the slaves were too precious. So he hurriedly pursued the Israelites with 600 special Egyptian chariots and other chariots. Now, we are faced with a dire situation with a large sea that cannot be crossed in front of us, and Egyptian soldiers chasing us frantically behind us.
However, God performed a great miracle, and the Israelites crossed between the divided Red Sea like dry land, and the Egyptian soldiers and chariots that followed were buried in the waters where they merged. This astonishing event, of course, has never been seen before, and will never be seen again, and it will be a very memorable event for the people of Israel. So, whenever the people of Israel doubted God's grace and God's exclusive love for the people of Israel, they often recalled the incident of parting the Red Sea and allowing their people to cross safely, reflecting on God's great power and grace The mouth was simultaneously praising the privileges of the covenant people.
II. changing mind
But their minds have changed. Their hearts contrast in the Red Sea and in Marah. When I experienced great and wonderful things at the Red Sea, I gave thanks and praise to God.
A. Thanksgiving and Praise: The Red Sea
B. Grievance and Complaint: Mara
There was water somewhere, but it was so bitter that it was impossible to drink. So he named it Mara, ‘bitter’. As they drank this bitter water, the hearts of the Israelites began to change to bitterness. The glory, thanks, and praise to God that resonated endlessly in our hearts until three days ago disappear, and we begin to complain and complain. The people complained about Moses, and they asked Moses what we should drink. They saw a great miracle and in three days they became like wild beasts, whose hearts burned to the brim with resentment and complaint.
We must be humble. It is said to ‘glorify God’, but the truth is, what God wants the most to be glorified is not Samaria or the end of the earth, but the beginning of a heart full of thanks to God. Why did their hearts, which had been united with thanksgiving and praise after seeing the miracle of glory three days ago, become so full of resentment and complaints? It was, after all, a lack of faith.
Ⅲ. faith and gratitude
When the soul is darkened far away from the grace of God, even a speck of gratitude disappears. That heart is a heart of unbelief, a heart that has lost the light of God's truth. Just because we have joy in our hearts doesn't mean we thank God. Gratitude is impossible without faith. True gratitude goes beyond rejoicing at seeing good things that you see, and reading the heart of God who has given you them and rejoicing for God. Furthermore, even though it is painful now, since the suffering comes from a good God, by relying on the Lord in the midst of it, we give thanks and praise to God for intervening in our lives and guiding us on the good path.
Like the people of Israel, we cannot live a life of true gratitude by looking for joy only with visible things and grieving only with visible things. Human desires cannot be satisfied by God. Because human desire is ultimately to want to be like God. The Israelites resented Moses, and this was not their resentment against Moses, but their hatred towards Moses and their resentment against God. The heart of resentment is having a heart of hatred because it is not moved in the desired order. The lack of water was a big deal, but it wasn't as big as dividing the Red Sea and sending thousands of Egyptian soldiers into the water. The reason the Israelites hated Moses in fear and blamed God was because they did not have faith. If you lose gratitude in your heart today and are in a stagnation, it is probably because the environment you are in is not what you want.
When the Israelites saw the great and wonderful miracle of the Red Sea, they blamed Moses and sinned against God because they did not have any water in three days because of their lack of faith. We should not become people of faith like this, but we must become people who do not waver, firmly believing that the Lord is holding on to my life and that the plan of my life is in him. When you have faith that you can overcome everything in Him, even the place where you have to drink bitter water like Mara is not a place to complain, but a place to rely on the Lord more, and you will discover miracles that you could not see even in the Red Sea at the water's edge. . I hope that you will live a life of thanksgiving before God with this faith. 2010-02-03