On Fear & Inexperience - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) October 13, 2023

When God wanted to free the Israelites from slavery under Pharaoh, He instituted plagues, split the Red Sea in half, and then used that same sea to swallow up their enemies. Then, while in the wilderness, He ensured that the people had water, food, and security as He led them to Mount Sinai where He actually met with them. There, He invited the elders, Moses and Joshua to spend time in His presence. He also spoke directly to the Israelites, introducing Himself to the entire nation. At that meeting, the people committed to having Him as their only God and promised to never bow to any idols.

How was it then that despite all these miraculous events, which happened within a span of weeks, these same people quickly built an idol to worship?

The whole thing seems so ludicrous when one takes the time to read the entire series of events. However, it will shock most of us modern Christians to realize that we are no better than those Israelites of old. And, in some ways, we may even be worse than they were.

Why do I make this claim? Simple - at that point in time, the Israelites were fresh in their walk with the Lord. They'd spent over 400 years in Egypt and though they had heard of the God of their ancestor, Abraham, they were more familiar with the false gods and practices of Egypt. As such, returning to what they knew - idol worship - seemed like the logical option. Plus, they only asked for the construction of the idol - the golden calf - after waiting for Moses to return from spending time with God. He'd been gone for over a month and they doubted that he'd ever return.

Fear drove them to make the mistakes they did. That and their inexperience with the Lord. While many of us can claim fear as a reason why we are making mistakes, can we claim inexperience?

When we look at our lives, we can admit that we have tasted God's goodness. Remember that problem that was miraculously resolved after a brief plea to the Lord, for instance? What about the issue you went into prayer and fasting on, then saw God work things out for you? We can also acknowledge that we've heard and seen God's might through the testimonies of other people. And despite all this, when the trials arrive, we doubt whether or not He'll come through. We shove the evidence of His faithfulness to the side and create our own solution to comfort ourselves. Just as the Israelites did when they built their golden calf.

Unlike them, we cannot claim to have inexperience with God and must, therefore, lean into our previous encounters so that we don't take steps that are contrary to our commitment to Him. By doing this, we will not break faith with the Lord and will instead rely on our 'Jericho Moments' as well as His stated promises in the Bible. Additionally, we'll be uncaging our faith and putting it to work, which will always result in more being poured out unto us based on Mark 4:24.

Do not let fear cause you to forget your experience with God and what He has done in the past. Never allow the spirit of fear to make you ignore His capacity to solve the problems you face now and in the future. Our God will help each of us, IJMN, Amen.