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Slave nostalgia

Another excerpt from Russell’s Moore’s book on temptation…

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In their desert trek, Israel came to conclude that God was not a Father. They started to theorize that God had brought them into the wilderness to condemn them rather than to save them. The test revealed that the word of God was a slave to their stomachs and not the other way around as they engaged in slave nostalgia. “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full,” they grumbled, “for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Ex. 16:3). Do you see what happened? They actually envied the floating corpses of the Egyptians they’d seen in the sea. At least those mortified corpses had full stomachs.

The test revealed they wanted a Pharaoh more than a Father. They didn’t remember the tyranny, the slavery, or the peril of death back in their land of sojourn. They remembered instead what became more important to them—the demands of their appetites. “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing,” they said, “the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic” (Num. 11:5). In a slap of ingratitude they said of their God, “But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at” (Num. 11:6). They concluded it was “better for us in Egypt” (Num. 11:18). They would rather be slaves than sons.

It wasn’t just that they wished to be Egyptians; they had indeed become Egyptians in their hearts. The Egyptian religion behind them and the Canaanite religions before them—with their pantheons of fertility and sun and rain deities who existed to grow crops, conceive livestock, and feed bellies—pictured the divine as centering on filling human appetites. Jesus would identify the same tendency in his ministry when by the lake of Galilee he, too, gave supernatural bread to the crowds and then pronounced that they were seeking him “because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). Jesus was a food-delivery system for these crowds, not a Messiah. For Israel, God had become just another Pharaoh to be cast off when he wasn’t delivering the goods.

♦ Moore, Russell D. (2011-03-02). Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ (pp. 69-70). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.

The grave is overwhelmed

Posted on by Ryan Williams

There’s a peace I’ve come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There’s an anchor for my soul
I can say “It is well”

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There’s a day that’s drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
“Worthy is the Lamb”
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
“Worthy is the Lamb”
[x2]

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise