Mundane Blessings?

    

Throughout the course of a person’s life, we are faced with a series of good times, not so good times, and even the occasional periods where we really aren’t sure if we will make it through. It’s during these different periods of our lives that we also find ourselves in different phases of our Christian walk. There are times when we feel as though God doesn’t care, couldn’t be further from our situation, or perhaps doesn’t even exist. However, we also experience times of extreme closeness and intimacy with God. Why is that? Is God truly far away at times, or do we keep God from being close to us?


When the Israelites left Egypt during the Exodus they were riding high on the miracles they had just seen. They had lived through the Passover, numerous plagues, and had finally, after 400 years of slavery, been set free. To top all of these miracles off they even got to see God part the Red Sea right before their eyes. They could not have possibly felt any closer to God at that time. The Israelites were so on fire for the Lord that as they crossed the Red Sea they even began to sing praises (see Exodus 15:1-18). They were extremely focused and their faith was strengthened. However, as you probably know, that is not the end of the story.


Two and a half months into their wilderness journey (after numerous blessings), they were in the Desert of Sin (ironic name don't you think?). The people began to grumble (not the first time if you read the whole story). They kept talking about how they should have stayed in Egypt because at least there they had all the food they wanted. Like we so many times today do, the minute something gets uncomfortable, we want to quit and go back to the comfort of the way things used to be, even if that means going back into bondage. The gut reaction of the Israelites was not to look to God, who had saved them from the plagues, rescued them from slavery, made it possible to walk on dry land in the middle of the red sea, and had turned bitter water into water that was drinkable (see Exodus 15:25); instead they looked to their circumstances and took their eyes off their provider. How many times have you done that? I know that I have done it more times than I could possibly count, or would honestly care to admit


Why is it that we as humans have such a hard time with change? We get comfortable with where we live and a certain group of friends. We find something we like at a restaurant and never order anything else. We even do this at church. Have you ever tried sitting in a pew where someone else usually sits? Why is that? Do we enjoy monotony? Are we a boring species? I don’t think so at all. I believe that we as humans like to put up walls and form comfort zones. It can be uncomfortable or even hard to move to a new town or start a new job. Because of that we so often find ourselves settling for less than God’s will for us. This applies to every aspect of our lives; from where we work, to who we marry, even to how we treat our physical bodies. Change is hard. No matter how much we know in our head about the benefits, we struggle to break our old, comfortable habits and ways.


Despite the grumbling of the Israelites, God still blessed them as they complained about how hungry they were. What I love about this story is how God chose to do it. Rather than just show them some animals or a fruit tree, he chose to feed them Manna directly from heaven (see Exodus 16:4-5). What an amazing blessing! To ensure that they could only gather enough for one day, any leftovers would actually rot. Talk about “give us this day our daily bread”. I have to be honest though, I struggle with that. I am a worrier by nature and I cannot fault the Israelites for wanting to gather extra Manna each day. Isn’t that just like us as humans, we are focused not just on today, but we are looking at tomorrow. Even if God just finished blessing us, we are worried about 5 years down the road, as if God doesn’t already know about what will happen then as well. The funny thing about God is that he expects us to do that, he knows our nature, he created us after all. If you look at the story of the Israelites, they still tried to gather enough Manna to store for later, however, it served them no purpose because it went bad.


God didn’t stop the Israelites from gathering more than they needed, however, it served them no purpose. It was God’s intention for them to really learn how to trust in him. When we do see blessings happen, we must be careful to not take them for granted. The Israelites had an incredible, daily blessing literally falling from heaven. However, that became routine for them. After all, they had been following a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (see Exodus 13:20-22). They started to take the miraculous for granted and every time they got bored or wanted something different they would grumble and complain. Don’t we do the same thing? I know there have been times when I have followed the exact same pattern as the Israelites. I get in a desperate time of struggling, seek God for his help, and he miraculously comes through for me. However, sometimes the very next day, I am grumbling and complaining again. Why is it that we as humans constantly do that? Why is it so hard to be content and enjoy where we are? Why can’t we take a step back and savor the blessings of the Lord every day?


God’s blessings should never become mundane, but they do. When he blesses us over and over we sometimes come to simply expect it. Just like a spoiled child, we throw a temper tantrum when we don’t get what we want. When I think about my own life, I see that even in myself. I have taken God’s blessings for granted so many times, simply because I have come to expect them. However, just like a child, when I have had to patiently wait, save up, or work hard to get what I have been wanting, I appreciate that blessing so much more. We need to learn how to have that thankful attitude more often. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) says “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” It’s God’s will that we could learn to be content and thankful no matter we may be going through.