I was reading Exodus 16, where the people of Israel are setting out into the wilderness of Zin. Moses records the event this way:
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, m“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, nwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Talk about ungrateful. It wasn’t that long ago that these same people were crying out to God for delivery from their enslavement in Egypt (Ex 2:23). And then of course, there is the whole matter of watching the Red Sea part and the Egyptian army wiped out in a single blow. So how did they forget God’s incredible mercy and salvation? They had tunnel vision.
Tunnel vision is the dreaded spiritual disease rooted in self-centeredness and blameshifting, a holdover from the days of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Therefore, a person is caught up solely with the moment, caring about nothing other than himself. What matters to such a person is the here and now and all past grace is exactly that, the past. And so, the spouse that wants his way lists off all of the failures of the other spouse while forgetting the many ways that spouse is an encouragement. A parent can find fault with all sorts of wrongs in a child, but fails to see that she is filled with many more faults when seen through the lens of a holy God. An adolescent can bemoan the fact that he doesn’t have the latest gadget, all the while forgetting his parents’ continued provision of everything and more than he needs. This is the human heart. We are continually forgetful of God’s grace.
But this is exactly why Paul tells us that we must never forget what the Lord has done for us:
Tunnel vision is the dreaded spiritual disease rooted in self-centeredness and blameshifting, a holdover from the days of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Therefore, a person is caught up solely with the moment, caring about nothing other than himself. What matters to such a person is the here and now and all past grace is exactly that, the past. And so, the spouse that wants his way lists off all of the failures of the other spouse while forgetting the many ways that spouse is an encouragement. A parent can find fault with all sorts of wrongs in a child, but fails to see that she is filled with many more faults when seen through the lens of a holy God. An adolescent can bemoan the fact that he doesn’t have the latest gadget, all the while forgetting his parents’ continued provision of everything and more than he needs. This is the human heart. We are continually forgetful of God’s grace.
But this is exactly why Paul tells us that we must never forget what the Lord has done for us:
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:11-13)
We must remember that at one time we were separated from Christ, apart from God’s promises. BUT NOW, because of Jesus, we have been welcomed into God’s family. And this reality is truly better than anything else in this world. Without this being actively remembered every day, the idea of preaching the gospel to oneself daily, we too will be crying out for our meat pots.