87. Trusting God: Lessons from the Israelites in the Desert

G' day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Dave here.

Who do you feel safe with?

Who do you trust to look after you?

If you were out of the shops or in a dark alley, who would you want with you?

Would you want a chimpanzee?

Chimpanzees are very strong.

But I was once at the zoo and there was a chimpanzee that slowly, slowly, slowly pooed into its hand and then ate it.

Is that the sort of behaviour you'd want from someone looking after you?

I hope not.

What about a baby?

Would you feel safe with a baby?

At least a baby is human, right?

But probably not who you'd be looking for to look after you.

What about someone big and tough like a ninja warrior or a soldier or your grown up?

That'd be better, right?

But even then, there's only so much they can do.

What if you have the God who created the world just by speaking?

That's who the Israelites had with them back in the wilderness.

They didn't always understand that, though.

I wonder what it'd be like for them to have him with them.

It's time to find out.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, the Israelites were travelling through the desert from Egypt to Mount Sinai.

Along the way, God had done amazing things.

He'd turned bitter water into good drinking water.

When they had no food, he sent quail to eat in the evenings and manna to eat in the mornings.

This is all on top of the amazing things he'd done for them back in Egypt.

Despite all those amazing things, the people kept grumbling.

In fact, at the start of Exodus chapter 17, they run out of water again.

And you'd think that this time, surely this time they'd know what to do.

Just ask their kind, loving God.

Surely they know their God by now.

They should know him as the God who looks after them.

But no.

Again they grumble.

Again they complain.

Again they test the Lord God.

Instead of trusting him, they say to Moses in verse three, why did you bring us out of Egypt?

Was it to kill us, our children and our farm animals with thirst?

Are you kidding?

How many chances has God had to kill them?

How many times has he saved their lives?

Will they ever really know their God?

In his kindness, God again looks after them.

In verse five, he tells Moses, go ahead of the people of Israel and take some of the elders of Israel with you.

Carry with you the walking stick that you used to strike the Nile River.

Now go.

I will stand in front of you on a rock at Mount Sinai.

Hit that rock with the stick and water will come out of it.

Then the people can drink.

And that is exactly what happens.

Once again, the people are saved.

Moses wants them to remember how they've treated God, though he gives the place where all this happens two Massa and Meribah.

Massah means testing because they tested God there.

Meribah means quarreling or arguing because they argued with God, they didn't really understand who they had with them, helping them.

While they're camping there, the Israelites get attacked by some people we heard about a few episodes ago, the Amalekites.

This may be a bit confusing because a few episodes ago we were talking about King Saul and the Amalekites.

But King Saul lived about 400 years after what we're talking about now.

In fact, King Saul had to attack the Amalekites because of what they did 400 years before.

In the story I'm about to tell you.

In other words, I'm telling the story backwards.

So sorry about that.

Anyway, Moses says to a guy named Joshua, choose some men and go and fight the Amalekites tomorrow.

I will stand on the top of the hill.

I will hold the stick God gave me to carry.

Umm, say what now?

You go and fight the battle, Joshua.

I'm going to stand up on this hill where it's nice and safe and hold a stick.

Is Moses being a coward?

Not at all.

The stick he's holding is the stick God's had him use all along.

It's the stick he used to hit the Nile river when God turned the water to blood.

He used the same stick to hit the rock when God made water come out.

In other words, Moses uses the stick to show that God is doing his work.

The stick doesn't have any power though.

All the power is in God.

And it's important to remember that because what happens next is really weird.

Let me read it to you from verse 10.

Joshua obeyed Moses and went to fight the Amalekites.

At the same time, Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.

As long as Moses held his hands up, the Israelites would win the fight.

But when Moses put his hands down, the Amalekites would win.

Later, Moses arms became tied.

So the men put a large rock under Moses and he sat on it.

Then Aaron and Hur held up Moses hands.

Aaron was on one side of Moses and Hur was on the other side.

They held his hands up like this until the sun went down.

So Joshua defeated the Amalekites in this battle.

Okay, that could be the weirdest description of a battle in the entire history of the world.

But here's what's happening.

Remember, Moses is holding his stick in his hands.

When he holds the stick up, that's when God is fighting for the Israelites.

When he puts his hands and the stick down, God stops fighting for them.

God doesn't have to do things that way, but I think he's doing it for a very important reason.

Before now, the Israelites had not done any of the fighting.

God did all the fighting back in Egypt.

Now he's teaching the Israelites that even when they're involved in the fighting, they can still only win when God is fighting for them.

That's what we saw all through 1 Samuel.

When God fought for them, they won.

When he didn't, they lost.

They need God to look after them.

But what about these Amalekites?

They've done something really evil.

They've attacked God's people, which is like attacking God.

They've acted like the Egyptians, as though they don't know God.

And that didn't work out very well for the Egyptians, did it?

Now God's going to make sure the Amalekites are punished for that.

In verse 14, he says to Moses, write about this battle in a book so.

So people will remember.

And be sure to tell Joshua.

Tell him, because I will completely destroy the Amalekites from the earth.

That's why 400 years later, Saul had to attack the Amalekites.

Moses, meanwhile, sets up a reminder stone to remind everyone that Israel won the battle because God saved them.

The Israelites need to remember their God.

After a while, someone comes to see Moses.

It's Jethro, his father in law.

At some stage, Moses had sent his wife and sons away to stay with Jethro.

Now that the Israelites are safely out of Egypt, Jethro brings them back.

Jethro is not an Israelite.

He's a Midianite.

In fact, he's a priest of Midian.

That means he probably worships fake gods, just like the Egyptians do.

And just like the Egyptians, we don't expect him to know the one true God.

When he arrives, Moses greets him and invites him into a tent.

There, Moses tells him about all the problems they've faced and how God saved them from all those problems.

He tells them about how God saved them in Egypt, how he saved them from the Amalekites, how and how he saved them from hunger and thirst.

Now, Jethro could act like the Egyptian king.

He could say, ha, I don't really care about your God.

But he doesn't.

Instead, he's really happy.

He's really excited because he's learned something.

He now knows God.

He says in chapter 18, verse 10, Praise the Lord.

He has saved all of you from the Egyptians and their king.

He saved the people from the power of the Egyptians.

Now I know the Lord is greater than all gods.

He did this to those who looked down on Israel.

Jethro now knows God better than the Egyptians.

He knows God better than the Amalekites.

He even seems to know God better than some of the Israelites.

He makes sacrifices to this God, who he now knows is the greatest in all the world.

He also knows that when you have this God with you, he'll teach you wisdom how to be wise.

The next day, Jethro watches Moses do things in a not very wise way.

From early in the morning all the way through to sunset, heaps and heaps of Israelites come to Moses to have him sort out their arguments, to judge between people and tell them what God wants.

Now that's a really good job.

It's great that the people can find out how God wants them to treat each other.

But Jethro sits Moses down at the end of the day and tells him, mate, you're going about this all wrong.

This is nuts.

You're going to be exhausted.

God wants you to do it in a wiser way.

In verse 19, he explains to Moses how God wants him to share the work around.

He says, you must talk to God for the people.

You must tell him about their disagreements.

You should tell them the laws and the teachings.

Tell them the right way to live and what they should do.

But choose some capable men from among the people.

Choose men who respect God and who can be trusted.

They will not change their decisions for money.

Make these men officers over groups of 1000, 150 and 10 people.

Let these officers solve the disagreements among the people all the time.

They can bring the hard cases to you, but they can decide the simple cases themselves.

That will make it easier for you.

These men will share the work with you.

Do this if it's what God commands, then you'll be able to do your job and all the people will go home with their disagreements solved.

In other words, Moses doesn't have to do it all alone.

Jethro is explaining a much wiser way to go about things because God's given him wisdom, given him the ability to know how to do things well.

Because God is with the Israelites.

He teaches them wisdom.

He provides everything they need, and he keeps them safe even when things look really dangerous.

Like when the Amalekites attacked.

Do you know, it's the same for us if God is with us.

He teaches us wisdom.

He provides everything we need and he keeps us safe even when things look really dangerous.

And if you trust in Jesus as your king, God is with you always.

Every single moment of every single day.

Sometimes it may not feel like it.

We can't see God.

We can't see Jesus.

He went back up to heaven, but he hasn't left us alone.

In fact, he's made his home in us by putting His Holy Spirit inside us.

God's Holy Spirit lives in us every single minute of every single day.

God is always with us, teaching us wisdom, making sure we have what we need, and keeping us safe even when things look dangerous.

Back in the desert, the Israelites are about to meet their God.

There'll be thunder and lightning.

There'll be fire and smoke.

There'll be loud trumpet blasts.

But that's a story for next time.

Thanks everyone for listening.

Families, if you're finding this helpful, then would you help me to make more of these episodes by signing up to be a supporter?

You might give $3 a month, $5 a month, a hundred dollars a month.

I don't mind.

But I'd love your help to keep going with this work.

You can sign up to support at the donate page or of faithfulgod.net that's faithfulgod.net at the website.

You can also sign up for my newsletter.

I give some prayer points.

I give some updates about where things are going and what's been happening and hopefully give some encouragement along the way.

I'd love to hear from you.

I'd love your support.

But for now, keep trusting Jesus and we'll talk again soon.