I am...an Israelite.

I've been reading through my Bible again (start to finish) because I just got a new one right before Christmas and figured it would be good for me. So I'm reading and loving it and I come to the part where the Israelites are newly freed from Egypt. They are so excited and probably can't stop talking about how amazing God is for delivering them! It's amazing to read, because I just can't imagine God letting me walk along the dry bottom of a huge river, you know?
Anyway, before long that excitement starts to wear off, and they start complaining. They even say that they wished they were back in Egypt! Now, I'm looking at this thinking, "What? Are you guys crazy, or do you just have the worst memory in the entire history of mankind? Look what God just did to you a couple chapters back!!! He led you out of Egypt after hundreds of years of slavery! He took you across a river on dry land! He fed you manna! He made water come gushing out of a rock! How can you forget so quickly what God did for you and turn away from Him?!" And then it hit me that I am seeing this story from a much different angle than the Israelites were experiencing it from. I read the entire story across the span of a couple minutes. Of course it seems silly to me that they forgot "so quickly". When they lived the story, it had been months or years before they forgot! That's not so abnormal...it would happen to anybody! That's just being human!
Suddenly I was convicted. How many times do I do the very same thing? When I was at Bethany, all I wanted was to be "delivered". Now that I am "free", I hit a little bump in the road and am wishing that I was back there because I figure even that was better than where I am now. If someone was reading the story of my life, they would probably be able to compare me to a forgetful, ungrateful Israelite quite easily. I am far to quick to "forget" those things that God has done for me. I am too quick to blame God for bringing me to the place that I'm not enjoying in that moment.
Nathan, in his sermon on Sunday, mentioned something that Shane Claiborne and his friends had realized. See, they were unhappy with their church and just wanted their dream church. Then they realized that all they needed to do was to have their "dream" church was to be the church that they dreamed of and longed for! That made so much sense to me! Instead of complaining and becoming bitter about certain things in life, I should just BE what I dream and hope for. It's an interesting thought, one that I haven't really put into words before now. It's something I'll definitely be pondering in the next couple weeks...