Temptation No. 1.

Read Exodus 14:8-31 

The children of Israel cried out to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, “Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (verses 11-12)

They had just experienced the awesome power of God displayed through the plagues on Egypt and yet were so quickly discouraged. Like spoilt children, their complaining was entirely negative and full of unbelief. Their attitude magnified the problem and provided no positive answer. They should have said, “This problem gives us a great opportunity to call upon God in a great believing prayer meeting.” As they faced that seemingly impassable Red Sea and the bloodthirsty Egyptians marching behind them, they could have exclaimed, “Our God, who brought us out of Egypt with His mighty right arm is well able to deliver us now.” Instead they buckled at the knees and attacked Moses. In doing so they tempted God to destroy them.

Moses’ response was the response that God looks for from all his people.  “And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.’” (verses 13-14)

The essence of this message to the wimpy complainers was this. “Stop being afraid. Stand still. Stop running around and spreading your fear, gossip, negativity and unbelief to others. Get your eyes on God and off the problem. See the salvation of the Lord.” Moses confesses that this problem has a positive side to it. It gives God one more opportunity to deal one last judgment on Pharaoh.

“And ye shall hold your peace” is a nice way of saying in our every day language, “For goodness sake, shut your mouth. If you can’t say something positive, say nothing at all.”

God turned that great problem into a mighty victory. The Lord wants to do this with all our problems. Every single problem has within its sphere the incredible potential for another victory from God. The great Song of Moses written in Exodus 15 came because of this gracious act of God even when He was tempted to destroy them. The Song of Moses will be sung with the Song of the Lamb in heaven. Read Revelation 15:3.

Temptation No. 2.

Read Exodus 15:22-25

Only three days later they are murmuring again. This time they are desperate for water because it was too bitter to drink. Their first response was to murmur against Moses who was God’s appointed leader.

Moses’ first response was to cry out to God. God showed Moses a tree which when cast into the waters made them sweet. Oh how the church today needs to learn this lesson. Crying out to God is so foreign to the wimp and so his waters remain bitter. The real man of God knows that the first thing he must do when the waters of his church, marriage, friendships, or place of work become bitter is to cry out to God. God will then show him the tree he needs to cast into the waters to make them sweet.

Hebrews 12:15 warns us that a root of bitterness springing up will trouble and defile many. If you have trouble in your church or marriage, look for the root of bitterness and cry out to God that He will show you how to deal with it.

Once again God was tempted to destroy them, but His mercy and grace prevailed.