Give God The Benefit of the Doubt

“Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.” (Ps 106:7 AV)

This is an interesting verse.  It raises the question of what ‘understood not’ means.  Clearly, they saw the plagues and the curses that came with them.  Surely they witnessed the impact these plagues had on Pharaoh and Egypt.  They saw firsthand the suffering that these plagues had on their enemies.  What was it they did not understand?  The ten plagues directly attacked the gods of Egypt.  Each plague corresponded with something the Egyptians worshipped.  Did they not understand this?  Surely they did.  So, what was it they did not understand?  The answer is right in our text.  They did not understand how much of an extension of God’s mercy these ten plagues were.  God did not owe Israel anything.  They were told not to go into Egypt.  Yet, Jacob lacked the faith to see out a famine.  He was worried for his family and just found out his long-lost son, Joseph was the ruler of Egypt.  To him, this was a no-brainer.  However, once the famine was ended, Israel did not need to be there.  They stayed anyway.  For the next four hundred and thirty years, they served the Egyptians in hard bondage.  They made their bed by not trusting God.  Now, they were in deep need of God’s mercy.  The plagues were the means by which God sent His mercy to a stiff-necked people.  They also did not understand the God of the ten plagues was also the God who would take care of time.  They failed to see the significance of the plagues as they pertained to God’s character and ability.  In particular, what the character and nature of God would mean to them personally.

We are like little children.  We see the LORD in the same way a two-year-old sees his parents.  He cannot even begin to understand all his parents do for him or how patient they are despite his total lack of gratitude.  He cannot begin to understand his parents must provide living so that his tummy is full.  There is no way he can comprehend all the repairs and maintenance his father does around the house so that things do not break.  This child cannot understand exactly why he has to go to the doctors and get a checkup and shots.  He cannot fathom the way a car works, that mom puts gas in it, and that he is carried about like a king in a chariot.  Although this child is repeatedly corrected, he does not understand that dad’s displeasure is tempered with his love.  He is not aware that his disobedience often warns far more than he receives.  Not until we are older do we begin to appreciate all that our parents did.  As we age we begin to see the profit their love bestowed upon us.  We see what those spankings had to happen and the fruit that came from them.  We see why our mothers controlled our diet.  We see why dad made us do our chores.  We understand why they harped on us about our grades and made us do our homework.  Those camping trips that we didn’t appreciate as much as we should have at the time, we now look back on fondly and are grateful for the experiences.  We don’t understand a lot as we mature.   It is not that we do not notice.  We do.  We simply do not understand the fullness of what is happening.

Where Israel failed is in giving God the benefit of the doubt.  This is what children do.  We feed them breakfast and by lunch, they have forgotten that dad and mom were responsible to see that Junior did not starve to death.  They throw a fit or get a bit anxious because their tummies are growling and wonder if the pantry is completely empty.  Israel did not understand.  They did not understand the nature and character of God.  They saw the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Egypt.  They failed to extrapolate that through this miracle, God was showing them they are safe in His care against all who would threaten them.  They saw and enjoyed the manna from heaven.  What they failed to see is that God would always provide for their needs.  They saw miracles on the battlefield yet failed to understand God had a purpose for them bigger than themselves.  When we fail to understand the nature and character of God, our faith waivers.  It is best to give God the benefit of the doubt even if we do not understand all the lessons God’s miracles are intended to teach.  If Israel would have given God the benefit of the doubt based on the ten plagues and miracles of the wilderness, there would have been so much complaining.