February 1: Of Backstories

Exodus 13:17-15:18

Matthew 21:23-46

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 6:16-19

I love back stories.  You know the ones - the behind-the-scenes, insider type stories.  The ones that give you the real scoop about what's going on.  I don't care as much about the championships the San Antonio Spurs have won; I really like reading about how their assistant coach - the guy who taught Kawhi Leonard how to hit a three - is Chip Engelland, a Filipino-American whom I saw play in Manila decades ago.  And I love reading about how their hall of fame center, David Robinson, together with his wife, founded the Carver Academy, a private, tuition-free Christian charter school.  Knowing the back stories makes me feel more like an insider.  Like I belong.  

Which is why I LOVE today's back story.  We know about Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh, and all the plagues, and how the angel of death passed over the Israelites.  The back story, though, is in Exodus 13:11-12, when the Israelites complained to God.  "They said to Moses, 'was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?  Didn't we say to you in Egypt, "leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians"? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.'"

Let's think about this for a second.  These are the people who've seen God, in short order: turn staff to snake and back; turn water to blood; cover Egypt with frogs, gnats, flies, hail, locusts and darkness; kill all the Egyptians' livestock - all while protecting, preserving and exempting them!  These are the people who obeyed God's direct instructions and, in so doing, saw God spare their first born sons when He killed the Egyptians'.  This is the God who told the enslaved Israelites that not only were they going to have freedom, they would enjoy prosperity as they plundered the Egyptians on their way out.  

And now, despite all they'd seen, heard and experienced, this is the God the Israelites questioned, doubted, rebelled against.  And these are the people who, verses later, we read God saves by passing them through the sea and drowning the Egyptian army behind them. Wow.

Now, if you're anything like me, you're thinking "these guys are idiots!".  And then you stop, and you realize how often it is you've seen God's hand, God's provision and protection, His abundance and blessing…and how often, so quickly thereafter, you've sinned.  And then you realize that, despite your sinfulness, God is still prepared to do what it takes to save you - even if it means parting a sea…or having his Son die for you.  The backstory of the Israelites gives me so much hope.  It tells me I belong.