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they griped, murmured, accused,
lost faith, and "tempted the Lord"
(Ex. 17:1-2).
Now we come to the CRUCIAL
INCIDENT that explains WHY Israel
went to war. Regularly they had
been grumbling, complaining, ac–
cusing, disobeying , LOSINO
FAITH-in face of constant MIRA–
CLES from God. Now, again, as
God performed another miracle,
causing water to gush forth out of a
rock, the people DOUBTED that God
was with them. " ... they tempted
the Lord, saying, Is the Lord
among us or not?" (Ex. 17:7.)
Now consider what had hap–
pened. Repeatedly, God had given
these people awe-inspiring and
· miraculous demonstrations of bis
intention
to fight their battles for
them.
These were VISIBLE miracles,
which the people witnessed with
their own eyes. God had demon–
strated his faithfulness, bis POWER,
bis willingness, HIS
w
AY! Yet
repeatedly, these people doubted,
complained, found fault, grumbled.
Repeatedly they LOST FAITH. After
aJI of this OVERWHELMINO PROOF,
these people DOUBTED God's faith–
fulness-OOUBTED bis power–
even DOUBTED bis very existence:
They disobeyed. They went
the
way
of SIN!
In effect, they had their own
' 'God is dead" movement!
At this point, Moses was dis–
traught, bis nerves shattered, bis
patience about exhausted. After all,
Moses was only human!
"What am
1
to do with this
people?" Moses appealed to God
(Ex. 17:4). "They are almost ready
to stone me."
God answered Moses, had him
move ahead of the people, and
smite the rock at Horeb with the
same stick he had used in the part–
ing of the waters of the Red Sea.
Then again God performed
a
visi–
ble MIRACLE- water gushed out of
the rock.
But, at this juncture, Amalek
carne against the Israelites in great
strength with an invading army.
This time God ALLOWED the !sra–
elites
to write the lesson of experi–
ence.
He allowed them to SIN. God
does not forcibly prevent humans
from sinning.
Moses, at the end of bis patience
trying to induce these stubborn,
Febrúary 1982
rebellious people to believe in and
TRUST God, said to Joshua,
"Choose us out men, and go out,
FIOHT with Amalek" (Ex. 17:9).
Lacking the faith to trust God for
their protection, Moses feared they
would be slaughtered. Altbough
Moses weakened and gave the
order for
w
AR, it was THE PEOPLE
themselves who actually had MADE
THE DECISION for war, by their
utter lack of reliance on God.
lt was altogether unnecessary for
these Israelites to arm themselves
and wage
w
AR. It was WRONO! It
was SIN. But God let the decision
be theirs!
This incident was the
turning
point.
It
occurred even before they
reached Mt. Sinai.
It
was after this
that God laid before them HIS
PROPOSITION for them to become
bis nation, ruled by bis govern–
ment. It was after this that God
promised, conditioned on obedience
and faith, always to figbt their bat–
tles for them- to protect them
from war- to give them constant
PEACE.
It
was after this that they
accepted bis government over
them. But already they had shown
laék of faith and trust, even during
the days when God was DEMON–
STRATINO bis power and faithful–
ness by so many miracles!
They had experienced a taste of
war. They could
have-should
have- turned
from it, afterward,
and relied on God instead of their
own
pow~r.
But they didn't.
God's PURPOSE Standsl
Even though God ALLOWS humans
to make their own decisions–
allows them to SIN-allows nations
to go to WAR-nevertheless God's
purpose must stand! H1s PURPOSE
was to settle these descendants of
Abraham in the land he had prom–
ised Abraham- "the PROMISED
LANO."
God's promise to Abraham, 430
years before, had been made
UNCONDITIONAL. Abraham had
pe,rformed
his
part of that agree–
ment. He had obeyed God, kept
God's Commandments and laws.
Now God's faithfulness demanded
that he plant these people in that
land, regardless of their conduct!
These descendants of Abraham
had
made their decision
to be a
fighting, war-waging nation. That
decision was theirs to make. And
since they had made it, God used
them
to do the fighting in driving
out the inhabitants illegally pos–
sessing the land God had allotted to
Abraham's descendants. Conse–
quently God gave orders for
them
to do what fighting-and killing–
was necessary to accomplish God's
PURPOSE of putting them in the
land of promise!
But that did not make war
RIOHT. Whether to oo right or
wrong-that is MAN's decision!
These Israelites did not need to
fight.
So it was BECAUSE of lsrael's
faithlessness and disobedience that
God ALLOWED them to SIN by tak–
ing up arms. And therefore God
used them as bis instruments in
driving out the nations illegally in
the land. Even now the Israelites
could have REPENTED,
changed
their decision and trusted God to
fight their battles for them.
Nations CAN Choose Peacel
Would it seem preposterous to
chiefs of state today, to believe that
even NOW, in this new year of
1982, God Almighty actually
would
fight our wars for us- that
OUR nations, today,
cou/d actual/y
have
PEACE-and have it
this very
year?
Undoubtedly it would! World
leaders today- in ALL nations–
have gotten so far from God and
God's ways, and God has become
so UNREAL to them that it probably
would seem ridiculous even to sug–
gest such a thing. The scientists,
the industrial and commercial lead–
ers, the educators-yes, and even
the CLEROY-have all departed so
FAR from God and HIS WAYS, that
such a thought would not even
enter their ininds.
Yet the ETERNAL has not Ieft us
without absolute ASSURANCE! He
has recorded, in bis Word, not only
bis promises and assurances, but
three additional concrete
case his–
tories-in
addition to those re–
counted in this article-proving
tbat he ACTUALL
Y
DIO DO THE
FIOHTINO for a nation being
invaded, when that nation and its
ru)ers TRUSTED HIM.
We will continue this exciting
story in the next number. o
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