2. THE TEMPTATION WITH WHICH THEY FLIRTED (No strength Left to Fight – A Great Danger)
Israel’s anxiety over her dilemma was only exceeded by its dangerousness. There are great dangers in weakness. When we are weak we have little strength left to fight. Certainly a fight appeared inevitable. Pharaoh’s army was thundering down upon Israel and her strength was gone.
She began to flirt with temptation. She had no place to go and no strength left to fight. Temptation is most effective when we are at our weakness. Esau made this discovery when he sold his birthright to Jacob. Saul found himself flirting with temptation while he waited on Samuel to offer the sacrifice at Gilgal. When we are at our weakest the pressure to give life’s pressures is at its severest level.
How do we know that she began to flirt with temptation? We see it in her behavior. She began to look for someone to blame for her circumstance other than herself. You know you are at your weakest when you began to look for someone to blame your problems on. Israel did. She began to accuse Moses of leading her “away into the wilderness to die” (Exodus 14:19-31). And her accusations were wholly false. Her own description of the circumstance sounds like she was compelled to leave Egypt. This was not the case. Moses had led, but Israel had followed of her own free will. A generation of her parents had “cried to the Lord” for deliverance. This fact was related to Moses at the burning bush. “The cry of the children of Israel has come unto me” (Exodus 3:9). With little strength left to fight she began to blame others for her circumstance.
With little strength left to fight she was tempted to sacrifice her faith in a moment of fear. “The children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid” (Exodus 14:10). Fear is a great instrument of temptation sometimes. It causes us to do things that at a more rational moment we would never consider. Saul offered the sacrifice at Gilgal because he was afraid that Samuel would not arrive before the Philistines pitched their battle. David had Uriah murdered because he was afraid his own deeds with Bathsheba would be disclosed. Fear is a great tempter. Israel was afraid.
Yet there was still a third dimension to Israel’s temptation. She forgot the past from which she had come. She told Moses that it had been better if he had never come and she was still in Egypt “to serve the Egyptians” (Exodus 14:12). It is always a mistake to forget the past for which we have come. It provides a perspective on the present and the future that God’s people need to be effective. Yet with no place to go and with no strength left to fight, Israel found herself flirting with temptation.
Be sure to check the blog posting in a couple of days for 3rd Installment – (THEIR GREAT DISCOVERY (No Task is Too Great for God – His Strength for Our Weakness).
Remember, you gain victory by finding His Strength for your Weakness.
Remember, you gain victory by finding His Strength for your Weakness.
