Alligator Arms
In Exodus 11, the Israelites are complaining. They complained a lot as Moses was trying to lead them to the Promised Land. On this occasion, they were complaining about food, or the lack of variety thereof. They were sick and tired of receiving manna from God, and wanted other meats and delicacies instead. In Exodus 11:4-6 (TNIV), it says, "... the Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!'"
Talk about ungrateful!
So Moses brought the Israelites' menu complaints before God, and God told Moses that if it was meat that the Israelites wanted, then meat they would get - in fact, so much meat that it would come out of their nostrils and they would loathe it!
But Moses didn't understand. He thought he was going to have to go out and hunt for the meat, enough to satisfy millions of Israelites every day. He didn't understand that God was going to provide it for them.
In Exodus 11:23 (TNIV), God reminds Moses that He will provide: "Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you."
I love that line by God. It's pretty comedic, actually. "Is the Lord's arm too short?" It's kind of sarcastic, really. Moses didn't think that God's arm could reach all the way down from heaven in order to give the Israelites what they wanted, and so God had to remind him that He would provide.
"Is the Lord's arm too short?" How many times have we thought that it was? How many times have we had serious doubts that God would provide whatever it was that we needed? How many times have we not thought that God ... was God? How many times have we thought that the Lord's arm was too short - to reach us and our needs?
I know that I am guilty as charged, and I'm sure that you are, too. Too often we try to rely on our own human talents, abilities, and sufficiencies, and too often we forget that God's arm is reaching down to us from heaven, ready to meet our every need, if we just ask Him, and believe that He will provide.
God's arm is never too short for us and our needs. God made alligators, but He does not have alligator arms.
Talk about ungrateful!
So Moses brought the Israelites' menu complaints before God, and God told Moses that if it was meat that the Israelites wanted, then meat they would get - in fact, so much meat that it would come out of their nostrils and they would loathe it!
But Moses didn't understand. He thought he was going to have to go out and hunt for the meat, enough to satisfy millions of Israelites every day. He didn't understand that God was going to provide it for them.
In Exodus 11:23 (TNIV), God reminds Moses that He will provide: "Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you."
I love that line by God. It's pretty comedic, actually. "Is the Lord's arm too short?" It's kind of sarcastic, really. Moses didn't think that God's arm could reach all the way down from heaven in order to give the Israelites what they wanted, and so God had to remind him that He would provide.
"Is the Lord's arm too short?" How many times have we thought that it was? How many times have we had serious doubts that God would provide whatever it was that we needed? How many times have we not thought that God ... was God? How many times have we thought that the Lord's arm was too short - to reach us and our needs?
I know that I am guilty as charged, and I'm sure that you are, too. Too often we try to rely on our own human talents, abilities, and sufficiencies, and too often we forget that God's arm is reaching down to us from heaven, ready to meet our every need, if we just ask Him, and believe that He will provide.
God's arm is never too short for us and our needs. God made alligators, but He does not have alligator arms.
posted by Stephen Guschov at 9:53 AM
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