If Only...

A few weeks ago at Bible study, we were reading through Exodus, and someone mentioned the movie, "The Ten Commandments" with Charleton Heston. Most of the people present knew the story of Moses because of this movie. However, there was one man, Lucho, who had never actually watched the whole movie (it is a long one). We were teasing him about falling asleep, and he responded with, "Well, maybe if Moses was played by Chuck Norris, I'd be able to stay awake." That would make the movie more...uh...interesting, but I think a drop-kick, shoot-em-up Moses would stray a little too far from the Biblical text.

As humans, we are always coming up with excuses for why we don't follow through or ways that something could be better or easier. We see this throughout the Bible and in ourselves today. If only I were a better speaker, if I were older, if I were younger, if I was prettier, if I was faster, and on and on. And unfortunately, we make excuses like these for our weak faith and doubts.

How often have we heard things like, "I would believe in God if He still spoke to us today like He did to the people in the Old Testament." Or "If I had lived in Jesus' time and seen his miracles, it would be easier to believe." Well, if you've ever said this or heard this, you're in good company.

Exhibit A: People who had seen Jesus feed the 5,000 approached him and said to him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" John 6:30-31

They wanted a sign greater than manna from heaven. Ironically they were talking to God himself, the Bread of Life, "the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die." John 6:50

But the people did have a point. Their ancestors had seen the Red Sea part, they escaped the Egyptians, they were led by God in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. On top of all that, God sent them all the food they needed each and every day. It definitely would have been easy for that group of people to believe in God, right?

Exhibit B: The Israelites response upon seeing the Egyptians after escaping from Egypt and witnessing ten plagues: "What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Exodus 14:11-12

Their response after crossing the Red Sea and escaping from the Egyptians: "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." Exodus 16:3

Let's not forget the fact that they didn't listen to the Lord's instructions for collecting the manna (they collected for more than a day at a time), and shortly thereafter they made a golden calf and worshipped it.

It's easy to judge the Israelites in the Bible. One would think that seeing all those miracles would make it pretty easy to know there was a God and believe in Him. But I wonder if they ever thought to themselves, "You know, God promised us a Messiah, but that was (5, 10, 500, 1000) years ago. If I just knew how much longer I'd have to wait or who the Messiah would be or how he would save us, I would believe. If I just knew exactly how things would go, and if God would write it down and I could have a copy of this plan so I didn't have to memorize the whole thing, I could teach it to my kids so much easier, and then I would know that God is God and that he saves us."

Maybe the people in Jesus' time thought, "He teaches with such authority, and he does miracles, but I just don't see how he will be able to save us. If I knew exactly how he planned to do that, and he didn't talk in parables so much, I'd believe in him."

Well, here we are. Exhibit C: We've got a written copy of God's plan, and it reveals to us "the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ" (Ephesians 1:9). We know exactly when the Messiah came, who he was, what he taught, and how he saved us. We know how God worked from the beginning of the world to the time of Jesus to bring everything to completion. We even know how he continues to work today. I'd say we have it made.

May we all live feeling blessed and privileged to have access to the Word of God, the "words of eternal life." John 6:68

"...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed...But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:29, 31