On the freedom side of the Red Sea, the Israelites sang and danced with joy. Miraculously, God had freed them from Egypt. Moses had led them out.

Then, after the sea parted and the people celebrated, they set out into the desert. Within days: They had no food. They had no water. An enemy nation attacked them, unprovoked.

Hungry, “the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” They said, “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” (Ex. 16:2-3).

Miraculously, God fed them with manna and quail.

Thirsty, the Israelites “grumbled against Moses.” They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” (Ex. 17:3).

Miraculously, God provided water from a rock.

Next, the Amalekites attacked.

Miraculously, God gave the Israelites victory.

Ah, but the people had such trouble getting along with each other that Moses spent all day every day dealing with their disputes.

So when they camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses took his father-in-law’s advice and enlisted other leaders to decide the disputes.

Whew! All of that – in only two months in the wilderness. Then Moses set out up the mountain to meet with God.

God’s message to grumbling people

You’d think that people who have seen God work miracle after miracle in their behalf would realize he was fighting for them, not against them. At least, you’d think that until your own needs rise up screaming in your face.

The Lord knew the people had come into the new still clutching hard to the old. Yet, that day he did not rebuke them. Instead, he offered them what would make them free indeed.

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’” (Ex. 19:3-6)

God wanted them to know the same thing he wants each of us to know.

I am freeing you …

You have seen what I did to Egypt.

With that one phrase, God reminded the Israelites what they were so quick to forget: For generations, they were oppressed and enslaved. A powerful tyrant treated them cruelly and refused to let them go. Yet the Lord brought them out.

In the wilderness, it’s easy for us too to focus on the hardships of the here and now. It’s tempting to look with longing to the past.

It’s crucial, then, to see what God is freeing us from, and to rejoice in the miracles he has already worked in our behalf.

To bring you to myself

You have seen how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

The Lord brought an oppressed people out of bondage – to bring them to himself. Still today, he is seeking and working to bring people to himself.

To become who I designed you to be

You will be: My treasured possession. A kingdom of priests. A holy nation.

That’s how God saw the Israelites who camped at Sinai. That’s who he had created them to be. The New Testament says a remarkably similar thing about all who are in Christ:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

His treasured possession. He is God. We are human. We belong to him, and yet he never, ever treats us like objects or slaves. Oh no! He treasures us, as human beings whom he has created in his image and has delivered at great cost. He loves and protects us as his own Body.

A royal priesthood. Our Lord designed each of us uniquely, and all of us together:

• to carry his Presence;
• to stand before him to minister to him;
• to pronounce blessings in his name.¹

A holy nation. Please note: Holy does not mean “religious, rigid and proud of it.” Not at all. Holiness does not stifle us. And also, it does not make us judgmental, controlling or mean. Holiness is God in us, living through us. As we humble ourselves, he changes us so that, more and more, we reflect who he truly is.²

The Lord offers us what is, at once, a new identity and our true identity. He invites us to be who he made us to be before sin entered the world and left us broken and marred. Living from our true identity, we’re each one of a kind, and yet we fit beautifully together. Living from our true identity leaves us deeply satisfied, knowing: I have purpose, value, love.

As you keep covenant with me

At Sinai, God offered the people himself. He offered them transformed lives. He made clear: All that he intended would happen “if you obey me fully and keep my covenant.” Intimacy and identity would be born and grow in covenant relationship with him.

In short, God led them into the big middle of the desert to offer them a life so different, it was as if they’d never lived before. And to give them freedom to choose.

The people’s choice

So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” (Ex. 19:7-8)

A man asks the woman he loves to marry him. He expresses his desire to create a life together in which they can deeply enjoy each other. He calls her his treasure – and time and again, he has demonstrated how much he values her. He commits to relate to her in a way that frees her to be her best self. In that context, he asks her to “forsake all others and cleave only to him.”

In answer, she extends her hand as if to shake on a business agreement, and says, “I’ll do what you say.”

When God offers covenant, he isn’t making a business deal: “You do your part; I’ll do mine.” It’s more like he’s proposing marriage: “I will pledge myself fully to relationship with you. Will you do the same?”

The Lord offered the Exodus generation relationship. They agreed to rule-keeping. They zeroed in on the word “obey” and ignored everything that surrounded it. They wanted to get out of that dreadful desert and into the good land God had promised them. If getting there meant doing what he said, they counted themselves up for the task.

After all, they knew how to obey a master, even a hard master. They had been slaves all their lives. Already, they had accused God of being a worse taskmaster than anyone in Egypt. Now they responded like union workers eager to garner a more satisfactory arrangement with an unreasonable boss.

Time and again, they had seen what God had done for them – yet they minimized it and didn’t look beyond it to see who he truly is. Now, they said yes to what they heard him saying – yet they paid no attention to what he actually said.

He knew one year of real relationship with him in the wilderness would change them so dramatically that they could rise up with courage and strength to go with him into that fruitful land.

Yet when we fast forward one year, we find the people utterly unchanged.

So when God said, “Go!” they said, “No!” Having rejected their true identity, they also rejected their inheritance. Thus, they wandered around a barren desert for 39 more years, bitter and blaming till the day they died.

And God buried them in the place he intended to set them free.

Be blessed to choose life

Yet their children made an entirely different choice. And so can we.

God brings us into the wilderness to free us. Circumstances may scream at us – and we may scream at God – that he has brought us there to kill us.

Be blessed to stop screaming and really listen, really look.

Wilderness strips life bare. It knocks all the supports out from under us. Thus uncluttered, wilderness makes some things painfully obvious, if we will choose to see:

• Are we seeking to know God, or to use him?
• Are we walking by faith, or by sight?
• Are we choosing death, or life?

In the wilderness, if we will listen, we can hear God saying, “I have moved heaven and earth to bring you to myself.” We can hear faith urging:

Love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life. (Deut. 30:20)

And there in the wilderness, unencumbered by all that we otherwise might never have given up, we have new freedom to choose. For, always, the God who sets us free gives us a choice.

Be blessed to choose him.

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This is a lightly edited version of a post first published December 25, 2018.

Seven Encounters with God series

Moses’ encounters with God on Sinai reveal remarkable things about who God is, how he relates to his people and how to cultivate intimacy with him. Lord, give us eyes to see.

• “Come be with me” – Seven encounters with God
• 1: The purpose of the wilderness
• 2: Prepare to meet with God
• 3: God who loves fiercely
• 4: When your world has changed
• 5: Mystery and life: The covenant meal
• 6, part 1: The place his glory dwells
• 6, part 2: One who stands in the gap
• 7: Radiant! A glory story

See also

• A spirit like Caleb’s – fully following God
• Spiritual sundowner’s: When darkness overwhelms you
• God who has wronged me
• When waiting is writhing
• I shall not want: Resting in God’s provision
• I will fear no evil: Resting in God’s very present help
• You have circled this mountain long enough

Footnotes

1. See Deuteronomy 10:8, which describes the priests’ duties this way: “to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name.” ↩︎
2. “You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:10 CJB). ↩︎