“The Exodus,” translated as “the way out,” is when the people of Israel had a way out of Israel after the plagues. According to Exodus 12:37, there were about 600,000 men counted, and on top of that there were also women, children, and livestock. Exodus 12:50 says, “All of the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.” Their journey had begun. 

In Exodus 13:21, we see, “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” What a miracle that God created this specific and special way to lead this group of people! In chapter 14, we see that the Lord “drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land.” Can you imagine the sight of this? The Israelites saw the Lord open up the sea to become a path for them. What a miracle! 

In the following chapter, we see that they were traveling in the wilderness and did not find water to drink. Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord made a way to turn the water source sweet and drinkable. Continuing into chapter 16, God once again performed a huge miracle as He brought food from Heaven to sustain them. In chapter 17, we see how the Lord brings water from the rock for them to drink. When we take time to think about all the blessings from the Lord to the Israelites in this time, we see that the Lord did so much for these people in so many miraculous ways. Can you imagine seeing God split the Red Sea so you can pass through or eating the bread that the Lord brought you from Heaven when you were hungry? They really saw the Lord’s faithfulness, time and time again. 

Now we fast-forward to Exodus 32, verses 1-7. Here we see a tragic shift in the hearts of the people. Moses was on the mountain, so the people got impatient and asked Aaron to make them a god. Aaron gathered people’s earrings and molded them into a golden calf to worship. When this golden calf was set up, according to Exodus 32:4, they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” They decided in a moment of impatience to attribute the miracles and the faithfulness of God to a golden cow statue made out of their earrings. How unbelievable is that? 

But how often do we do the same thing? Maybe you have seen the faithfulness of the Lord time and time again, but find yourself giving something else all the credit. Maybe you have relied on the Lord to get you through a hard time, and then ended up forgetting about how faithful He was to you. From the series of events here, I want us to see that even when God parted the Red Sea for them, gave them water in the wilderness, and so many other miracles…they forgot, and they gave credit to something else that was so much less than the Lord. I pray that through this we realize, just as the Israelites here, that we can quickly forget the faithfulness of the Lord. This week, choose to thank the Lord for what He has done. Choose to give Him credit and don’t forget His abundant faithfulness. The same God that led them through the wilderness by cloud and fire, gave them manna to eat and created a water source for them to drink, is the same God that we have the opportunity to have a relationship with now. He is good. He is powerful. He is faithful. Don’t forget!