… our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food … 1 Corinthians 10:1-3 (emphasis added)
Despite the Israelites going through the same experiences, they didn’t have the same response. Some responded in faith, most didn’t. We may sit in church week after week with the same people and go through the same experiences, but it doesn’t mean we are all responding to God.
We may have spiritual experiences like the Israelites who saw many miracles. Yet seeing miracles wasn’t enough to change them. They were involved in partaking of the manna, drinking the water, walking through the Red Sea on dry land but even that wasn’t enough to cause them to act in faith and in the end “their bodies were scattered over the desert” (verse 5).
What about us? How will we respond? Will we respond in faith, regardless of whether we see God work in amazing ways or not? When things go badly will we continue to believe in God? Will we become disillusioned with God when he doesn’t answer our prayers the way we think he should? Likewise, if things go well in our lives will we continue to believe in God? If we have no need of God, will we continue to respond in faith?
Further on, we read, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us” (verse 11). Will we take the warning and regardless of the circumstances, and other people’s responses, have our own faith in God?
