Every miracle God performs for us is intended, not only to better our situation, but also and even more importantly, to give us insight into the disposition, character and nature of God. If we fail to gain this understanding after experiencing a miracle from God, it greatly limits our faith and spiritual advancement. Each act of divine intervention has a lesson in it for us, that should enhance and reinforce our understanding of the ways of God. This is how God renews our minds—how He changes the way we think to align with His. Little faith is not the consequence of little or inadequate will power, but of little or no spiritual understanding of God’s will (Col 1:9 NIV).
Israel’s major and tragic mistake on her way from Egypt to the promised land was the failure to realize the underlying lessons of miracles God performed for her. The miracles of provision and protection God had done for them, beginning from Egypt up to that point were intended to shape their mental attitude, beyond meeting their immediate needs. However, they failed to appreciate it. For instance, the Bible says of the Israelites, “Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy, When He worked His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan;” (Ps 78:41-43).
Israel limited God in her national life, at a critical time when the Promised land was just in view and within their reach: “And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’…“Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; and you complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. (Deut 1:20-21,26-28). One would have thought that since they had experienced so much of God’s faithfulness on their journey, they would jump at the opportunity finally to possess the land. On the contrary, they complained and rebelled against God’s command. The result was that they wasted forty years wandering in the wilderness.
Short-sightedness and selective amnesia (with a few exceptions) have always been the bane of the human family. Remember how the Israelites frequently went from jubilation to complaining and outright rebellion each time they were faced with a difficulty. They quickly forgot God’s acts of mercy and power on their behalf. They were unlike David who responded thus, to Saul’s concerns for his safety in the event of combat with Goliath: “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “THE LORD, WHO DELIVERED ME FROM THE PAW OF THE LION AND FROM THE PAW OF THE BEAR, HE WILL DELIVER ME FROM THE HAND OF THIS PHILISTINE.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” (1Sam 17:34-37) (emphasis mine) . David did not miss the lesson. Let us learn from him. Shalom.
