What do we do when we hit rock-bottom? We cry out to God. It's entirely possible many of the Israelites didn't even know who the god/God was that they were crying out to... but the God of their fathers heard, and broke His 400 years of silence to send them a prophet from the desert, and a message in which they finally heard His Name. No longer was God simply God Almighty, Adonai, Creator of the world and King of the Universe, He was Lord, YHWH, the self-existent One, Covanent-maker and Covanent-keeper, the Unchanging, the Personal. And they rejoiced in the deliverance of the Lord.
And then the Egyptians more-than-doubled their workload, and they raged against their God.
Perhaps we can forgive them. After all, He had been silent for so long. And they had been in bondage for such a time. All of their lives, their grandparents' and great-grandparents' lives. Slavery does something to your thinking after so long. (Consider: the Israelites had been in slavery - and silence from God - for almost double as long as America has been a nation!)
And then God delivered them with a mighty hand, 10 plagues, many of which He did not inflict on the Israelites, then the miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea.
"Then they believed His words,
They sang His praise.
They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness
And tested God in the desert." (Ps 106:12-14)
God miraculously provided food and water - they complained because it was not what they were used to
God provided His greatest revelation of Himself up to that point in human history - they made a golden calf and called it after His Name
Is that really the Lord? You have His presence in the fire and the cloud. Can you really believe He can be contained in a golden calf?
God gave them the land of milk and honey - they feared
What did God do to the Egyptians, children of Israel? Can He not work again?
Small wonder that Moses' greatest preoccupation at the end of his life was helping the nation of Israel REMEMBER. Remember what He has done, o people! Remember, Remember, Remember! Deuteronomy, Moses' farewell sermon, reminds Israel of their story. What He has done. What He has said. Live in the knowing, the remembering of that!
It's like watching a movie and yelling at the characters cuz they're about to do something stupid. And so the children of Israel are. They will forget. As we forget. So easily we forget what God has done! And we just want to return to or stay in the place of sin and sorrow where we are 'comfortably enslaved.'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD9W61KZYxk
"Many times He delivered them;
But they rebelled in their counsel,
And were brought low for their iniquity.
Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
When He heard their cry;
And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say "Amen!" " (Ps 106:44-45,48)
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