Should you stop singing? (Part 2)

So, I started writing on Exodus 15 in my last post but only ended up discussing Exodus 14. So, let's look at Exodus 15 properly now. Like my son said, it's mostly a song. The kind of song you sing when God surpasses and exceeds your expectations. The sort of song you sing when what you never thought or imagined could happen does happen. You are in awe, honestly grateful to the One who makes it happen. Finally, your fears are gone, relieved at last. You are now in your safe place. People who have heard and seen how God came through for you are also in awe. Those who thought you could never amount to anything and have placed on you the stigma of an enslaved person are finally humbled. The narrative has changed in your favor. You are now singing a new song of victory, grace, and gratitude. You have become the one God has helped. This is the story behind the song sung by the children of Israel in Exodus 15. It was a deep song of joy, gratitude, and confidence.  

It is human nature to feel the way the children of Israel felt with the kind of miraculous deliverance they received from God. They have been helped and expressed gratitude; nothing spectacular, nothing out of the ordinary. What would have been spectacular about the story of Exodus 15 was if the children of Israel never stopped singing. If they didn't forget their wins, thereby making God prove Himself to them over and over again. But that was not the case. Not too long after they sang their song of victory, which was just a journey of three days into the wilderness with no water, and all the songs of gratitude evaporated into thin air. They complained like people whom God has never helped.

I am convinced that as you read this, you will be angered in your spirit and wonder how these people can be so ungrateful. The deliverance from Egypt with such a mighty hand, snatching them from the claws of slavery, allowing them to leave with so much wealth than they ever imagined, and then destroying their enslaver, and yet they complained about a tiny issue—lack of water. If God could do so much for them, what was water that would be a thing to complain about? But in truth, they are just being human. As humans, every little discomfort erodes all the good things we've had before. For a simple-minded person, a single no as an answer has nullified all the yeses he has received in times past, even when the yes was an uncomfortable yes from the giver. And sometimes, that really hurts. If it will hurt a man who has been going out of his way to provide a yes only to be shown ingratitude for a single no amid a million yeses, how much more would God feel when we complain at the slightest discomfort and forget all the saves and deliverances that we did not qualify for and yet received.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 teaches us that in all things, we should give thanks, for that is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. Thanksgiving is not denying our discomfort; it is simply acknowledging the sovereignty of God over our challenges and discomforts. When the Bible says we should give thanks, it is, in essence, saying we should put our faith to work and trust the power of God over what we may be going through, knowing that if God did it in the past, He would do it again. We are asked in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 to rejoice always and pray without ceasing. That means never stop asking, knowing that the One you are requesting from has the ability and capacity to do what you are asking Him to do, and so in confidence, faith, and trust, you rejoice. Because He has answered you several times before, you have a basis to trust again.

This would have been the preferred attitude of the children of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness without water. They never should have stopped singing. The song was not meant to transition to a complaint. While this is the default human nature, ingratitude should not be the nature of God's children. You have been bought with the blood of Jesus, immersed in God's unending and unconditional love. Your focus should not be on the challenging situation but on the ability and capacity of the God you have invested your trust in. Has He ever failed? If the answer is no, then He will never fail. God only fails when you fail to wait on His deliverance. Otherwise, God never fails. His timing and strategy may not align with your limited understanding, but He will always show up, and when He shows up, He shows up big.  

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