Exodus 16:3 The people of Isra’el said to [Moshe and Aharon], “We wish ADONAI had used his own hand to kill us off in Egypt! There we used to sit around the pots with the meat boiling, and we had as much food as we wanted. But you have taken us out into this desert to let this whole assembly starve to death!” Before we get to the main point, let’s put this verse into context. God had just finished defeating the gods of Egypt, had lead His people out with all the gold and silver of the Egyptians, and had opened the Red Sea for the people of Isra’el to walk through (and had washed away the Egyptian armies when the sea closed back again). And He had just provided water for them to drink by having Moshe throw a piece of wood into the bitter water, turning it sweet, and then leading them to a beautiful oasis with 12 springs and 70 palm trees. Reading this, it seems incredible and ridiculous that the people of Isra’el would so quickly forget all the amazing things that God had done in order to get them to this point! But, isn’t that what we do? We forget. We forget the ways that God has provided for us in the past. We forget the ways He has rescued us from sticky situations. We forget the miracles that He has worked in our lives. We just forget. We aren’t all that different from these people. I think this story in the Bible is there to remind us that God does provide. It’s easy to think, “Man! These people were ridiculous! They kept doubting and testing God!” But, that’s missing the point. The story isn’t there to make us look down on the people of Isra’el. It’s there to make us examine our own lives. How many times have I seen God meet my needs in awesome (and sometimes miraculous) ways, and then the very next time I have a need, I panic. I forget what God has done, and I start stressing out. Granted, I haven’t seen anything like the Red Sea parting, but I know God’s hand has been in other parts of my life. That’s the beauty of the Bible. We may forget, but it’s there to help us remember. So, what’s the point? The next time a need arises, or the next time when the situation seems overwhelming. Look back at those times when God pulled you through in the past. He’s not going to bring you this far and then abandon you! The Hebrew view of time is to walk backwards into the future, always looking at the past, and using the signposts of God to guide the directions we need to go. We don’t know the future, we can’t see what God is about to do, but we can see where He’s been and the things He’d done in our past. And we can use that to remind us to trust Him. Faith is a verb. Look back and remember. Then move forward with confidence that our God is bigger than any problem we’ll ever face.