Wilderness Wisdom (3 of 4)

Mike Connell

Page 5 of 10
So they judged and found something wrong, made an accusation, and found fault. That's what they did. We wouldn't do that of course. We would never do such a thing - and notice it was against Moses, so it always finds itself expressing itself against people. You notice this, they have actually - now who got them out of Egypt? God? Come on, give me a break. God required a man to get them out. Okay, now who's leading them through the wilderness? A man, okay then. So what do they do? Now it's like when David had his trouble, they want to kill him. Now you notice what's going on in the heart, that it's a heart issue. Moses says: who are we? We're nothing. We're nobodies, not really. He said the struggle you've got is not a struggle against people, it's a struggle against God. It's a struggle in the heart, with heart issues about God. That's the true situation.

Now notice they positioned themselves against Moses. In order to get what they needed to get, they needed to positioned right, and now they're positioned completely wrong. They're actually against, so what has put them against Moses? What's put them against God? What has caused them to be in a position where they're going to go nowhere, they're going to die? What has caused them? Here it is very simply: bitter judging in the heart. That's what brought them there. They made a judgement. Don't think judgements aren't important. They're a huge part of our life, they affect us. Then the next thing you notice, that they manifest as a result of that, is accusation, a critical word. You did this. You're the one to blame. You brought us out here to kill us. That's very bitter. Okay, and then the next thing you find is: bitter resentment and despair; oh, that we'd died in Egypt. You notice they then bring God into it. They said: the Lord should have killed us there; so what are they thinking about God now?

They're not thinking faith. They're not thinking trust. They're not thinking God is helping me. They're not thinking that at all. What are they thinking? They're thinking: You God, yuck! You've just left us. See, what manifested was the bitterness of their previous experience in slavery. It just flushed up in a hard time. Now God knew it was there, but what happened was, they had a chance to see it and deal with it. So what happened was, they went through a difficult time. In the difficult time, the unresolved bitterness of their slavery in Egypt, the hurts, the resentments, the offences, the bitterness that went back over all their known lifetime of being under oppression, of being victimised, of being powerless, of being treated unjustly, treated wrongly, all that they'd suffered under the taskmasters of Egypt, it's all there in their heart. Yes, they're glad to be saved. Yes, they're glad to be under the Holy Ghost. Yes, they're glad to be having God with them, but you know what? They're still bitter in their heart. They've never resolved this stuff from their past.

So as God is wanting them to come into a position where they can actually be valiant warriors for Him, He wants them to deal with the heart stuff, get rid of the heart stuff, sort it out. Notice they judged God. Isn't it interesting, when something goes wrong, how people say: how come God caused that to happen? How come God let that happen? See, someone in our congregation just died. You know what comes up in the mind of many people? How come God let that happen? Why didn't He heal her? You know what that means? You've just judged God; found a fault with Him. Think how difficult it will be to step out in faith to believe for a healing in the future. See, as soon as you ask the question why, you enter into judgement, because you're looking for motives. Basically all we know is this: she died. That's all we know, and God calls us to respond in a certain way. Why did that happen? I don't know. I've got to just know that God does heal the sick. All I know is this time He didn't, that's all I know.

So I can't come to any conclusions. Once you start to ask the question why, then you'll go down a whole kind of root. You'll go down a root about well why does God allow others, why does got allow that, and you start to judge God, question God's motives, and judge Him. Then you find yourself arrayed against Him and your life in God can't prosper, so it's a real area that we have to deal with. So you notice here that they had a death wish, they just wanted to die. Now isn't that interesting, that when we're in the deepest struggles, often if there's roots of bitterness in the heart, and despair has come into the heart, often the thing that manifests is: I just wish I was dead. If you've had situations in your life where you've been in deep grief, deep pain, and it's been very bitter, and you just wished you were dead, in a time of stress and pressure, it will come up to the surface like stones in a paddock. There it is for you to deal with again, except now you're not without hope. Now you have hope, because our God is the God of all hope, who can fill you with joy and peace, believing that you can resolve that old thing.