tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405310441835091644.post5933377265055611938..comments2014-07-20T17:51:57.874-07:00Comments on Each Day in the Word: our faithful GodMister Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17629567979169366888noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405310441835091644.post-24647099858011978702013-02-26T19:50:38.976-08:002013-02-26T19:50:38.976-08:00Dan,
I really appreciate your response to this. Ti...Dan,<br />I really appreciate your response to this. Time and again I was frustrated by the Israelites, but also caught myself shaking my head in disbelief at the incredible wrath displayed by God, something I had a hard time reconciling with how I understand God to be. I guess I never put the two together. You have an incredibly good point. Thanks for sticking up for your peeps. :)Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06072194164244592526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405310441835091644.post-75720667900757133772013-02-23T10:27:54.732-08:002013-02-23T10:27:54.732-08:00In reference to God's faithfulness I would agr...In reference to God's faithfulness I would agree that all of our doubts and reservations have been proven unwarranted. That being said, I might argue that the Israelites should be extended the same grace given to “big-mouth Peter” and “doubting Thomas.” Israel did not just witness the natural and supernatural blessings of God, but they also saw the natural and supernatural judgments of God. They were witness to history's most terrible demonstrations of God's wrath. The “miracles after miracles” that Israel witnessed were frightening acts of a vengeful God. They saw and experienced numerous plagues. They endured forty years of wandering through hunger and thirst. They buried friends and family. They were given 611 complicated commandments and suffered dire consequences for minor deviations. They did not have a personal relationship with God, but rather a national relationship which meant that people would be judged because of the actions of their representatives. The God they followed seemed constantly angry. He provided bread with worms. He gave quail, but poisoned it. He gave water, but first made the people to thirst. <br /><br />We don't experience the miracles that Israel experienced, but we also don't experience the judgments either. We complain, but our complaints are not met with immediate death. We doubt, yet we can always see more than a meal or drink into the future. We disobey, but are not under a burdensome law. We covet, yet have a diet that consists of more than a daily serving of boiled bread. We have a personal relationship with our God and know Him as a God of grace. <br /><br />Is it possible that Israel's complaints were not that God was going to let them die by forgetting about them, but rather that God was going to make them die by paying attention to them? How do you love a God that scares you?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06927318488840441895noreply@blogger.com