Day 31: Into the Wilderness

Well, I've done a month. And so have you, if you've got this far with me. "Never mind if you're not reading this at the end of January, every day you read some of the Bible is a good day.) The title feels appropriate: into the wilderness. It's going to get more of a struggle from now on - we've got the desert of Leviticus and Numbers ahead. Never mind - let's learn from the Israelites in the wilderness, and we'll be ready for the tough times ahead.

From Shur to Marah, to Elim, to the Desert of Sin
Exodus 15:22, Numbers 33:8, Exodus 15:23-7, Numbers 33:9, Exodus 16:1, Numbers 33:10-11
Murmuring about the lack of food
Exodus 16:2-3
Manna promised and provided
Exodus 16:4-22, 31-36
Law of the sabbath
Exodus 16:23-30
From the wilderness of Sin to Rephidim
Exodus 17:1, Numbers 33:12-14
Murmuring about the lack of water
Exodus 17:2-4
Water from rock on Mount Horeb
Exodus 17:5-7
Conflict with Amalek
Exodus 17:8-16
Relatives visit Moses
Exodus 18:1-12
Jethro's wise counsel
Exodus 18:13-27
Sinai Approx 1461 BC
From Rephidim to Sinai
Exodus 19:1-2, Numbers 33:15
Giving of the Law: Covenant renewed and preliminary instructions
Exodus 19:3-8

Predictably, after the highs of yesterday, things come crashing down today. There is a lack of water, and the water of Marah isn't drinkable, until God instructs Moses to perform another miracle. But by the time the people reach the appropriately named Desert of Sin, life in Egypt has become the Good Old Days. They've run out of food, complaints against Moses are escalating.
Moses and Aaron think that the miracle of manna will silence the grumbles once and for all: "you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt," (16:6). The daily provision of manna trained the people to rely on God. They couldn't hoard the stuff - it went bad. God would only let them collect enough for a day (except when it was the sabbath). So they had to go to sleep every night in the hope that the miracle would be repeated the next day. God was building up their faith muscles.
Still a way to go though. When the water ran short again, they complained bitterly. Moses complained too, to God, and another miracle was provided. But the lesson that they should trust in God, was proving a hard one to learn.
Then, just as Moses is getting ground down with the simple stupidity of people not bothering to think for themselves, along comes his father in law, Jethro, with some sound advice. "Delegate, man!" You don't have to do it all yourself. He saves Moses' life then and there. We can see already that this isn't going to be a straightforward journey home - there's been a battle to fight, the people are hard to please, and even Moses' new-found confidence is tested to the limit.
But at last they get to Sinai, where God had appeared to Moses first of all. That must have encouraged him. And the people seem to be paying attention as he passes on God's latest message.