Exodus 14-16

Complete panic.  The Israelites have finally been set free and they follow Moses, only to find out that Pharoah has sent an entire army to come after them.  The fear that comes over them is overwhelming, but God commands that Moses tell them to just "be still."  What else can they do?  They are stuck with the Red Sea behind them, the Egyptian army in front of them, and no where to go.  All of a sudden, Moses does as God had told him, and parts the sea.  The Israelites are able to go through to safety and the sea returns to it's original state and swallows up the entire army.
It's definitely a hard concept to just "be still" when we are fearful of something.  It's difficult to be patient and wait for God to part our sea and bring us to safety, but important to trust that He will.
So, the Israelites continue to follow Moses and Aaron and grow frustrated with the fact that they have traveled all this way and they are starving and have had no relief.  The Israelites blame Moses for their discomfort and easily forgot the things God had done for them.  However, God still provided.  He gave specific instructions about what was about to happen.  The land filled with quail and bread began falling from the sky.  They gathered enough for their household each day, gathering twice as much on the sixth day.  On the seventh day, the day of rest, the household was to eat the leftovers from the sixth day and were commanded to rest.  This introduces the Sabbath. 
The Israelites began to lose all hope and question the decisions that had been made, but God came through, once again, and provided for them.  He very easily could have denied the people food and comfort, but he showed His goodness, just as all hope was being lost. 
It's been a couple of days worth of hard readings.  It's great to read it, but Nicole and I both said we really want to "get it."  Not just read it.  Any comments or thoughts are great!  Julie