The People Rebel, and So Do I!

I'm half way through the book of Numbers and I'm thinking to myself "Are these people STUPID?!?! I mean COME ON!!!" Then I realize that I am just like them.

In Numbers 14:1-12 the people of Israel grope and moan to Moses and Aaron (The two guys God chose to lead the people out of Egypt and into the promised land) that they would rather go back to Egypt and into a life of slavery than to die in the wilderness. To give a little back story here: God has ALLOWED THESE PEOPLE TO LIVE THROUGH THE PLAGUES brought on by Pharaoh's disobedience (Exodus), BROUGHT THE PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT (Exodus), GIVEN THEM FOOD AND WATER when they were hungry and had none (Numbers), and yet the people seem to forget all of this once they feel any kind of worldly need. Rather than coming before the Lord and laying these things before Him, they act as though done of the above stated things ever happened. God becomes fed up with the people of Israel. He meets with Moses in the Tent of Meeting and asks:

"How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."

-Numbers 14:11-12

Thankfully, Moses intercedes for the people and begs God not to kill them!(Numbers 14:13-19) As I said in the opening of this post, I could not believe that the people of Israel could act in such a way...then I remembered my life and the way I tend to treat God sometimes and it truly saddened my heart. How could I forget all that God has done and is doing in my life and then complain as if He was never there? I've taken some time to reflect on this question and have come to the conclusion that I am ungrateful, forgetful, and most certainly undeserving....especially of God's love. Yet, He chooses to love me anyways, because I am His child. Exodus 34:5-7 states that:

"The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger , and abounding in steaadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..."

Which just so happens to be the same words Moses uses in his prayer to God in Numbers 14:17-19. How great it is to serve a true and powerful God!