23: The Promises to Israel - Bread from Heaven

The Present Truth : October 8, 1896

It is with singing that the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion. The song of victory is an evidence of faith, by which the just shall live. The exhortation is, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.” Hebrews 10.35. “We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” Hebrews 3.14. The Israelites had started well. “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.” On the other shore they had sung the song of victory. True, they were still in the wilderness; but faith is “the victory that hath overcome the world,” and they had just received the most wonderful evidence of the power of God to carry them safely through. Had they but gone on singing that song of victory, they would speedily have come to Zion.

But they had not yet perfectly learned the lesson. They could trust the Lord as far as they could see Him, but no further. They “provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies; there was not one of them left. Then believed they His words; they sang His praise; they soon forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel.” Psalm 111.7-13

Only three days’ journey in the wilderness without water sufficed to make them forget all that the Lord had done for them. When they found water, it was so bitter that they could not drink it, and then they murmured. This difficulty was easily remedied by the Lord, who showed Moses a tree which, when cast into the bitter waters, made them sweet. “There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them.” Exodus 15.25

Encamped by the palm trees and wells of Elim, they had nothing to vex them, so that it must have been nearly a month before they murmured again. During that time they doubtless felt very well satisfied with themselves, as well as with their surroundings. Now they surely trusted the Lord! It is so easy for us to imagine that we are making progress when we are only lying at anchor, and the tide is flowing past us; so natural to think that we have learned to trust the Lord, when there are no trials to test our faith.