Ex 16:3 …and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

This is the story of the children of Israel leaving Egypt, looking back and forgetting that they were slaves in Egypt but saying to themselves that it was a good place.

What God wants from us this year is to not look back and kid ourselves that the past was good when it was actually hell on earth.  Right from Exodus chapter 1, we are told of how the children of Israel were oppressed.  Ex 1:¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brickand mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

So, how can they then turn around in chapter 16 and forget all the hardship they had to endure?  Well, that is the way it is with us human beings.  We like to look back and romanticise on what was, when in actual fact, there was nothing sentimental about the past.  How about looking forward to the author and finisher of our faith?  Hebs 12:2

If you are reading this like I am, then we must believe God who can do greater and do better for us this year.  Yes, 1 John 4:⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

God has a plan for us as his children and He does not want us to keep looking back; He wants us to move forward like the children of Israel moved on till they reached their promised land. We know that as a result of their murmuring and complaining, they spent 40 years in the wilderness, when they were meant to have been in the wilderness for 40 days.

This year, let’s cultivate the habit of trusting God more, putting Him first in all things.  This year is a special year and I believe God, that as we acknowledge Him in all we do, doors of opportunities will open unto us and the miracles that we are believing God for will come to us.

Don’t look back and but let’s keep moving forward and believing God for the best that He has in store for us in Jesus name.

PRAYER POINTS: Lord be my guide this year; Lord help me to put you first in all that I do; Lord glorify your name in my life in Jesus name.