When Israel was in the desert following their escape from slavery in Egypt, their lives began to take a new course. God released them from bondage and set them free. He chose Israel as a special people, giving them the opportunity to learn about the laws of God and discover the blessings that come from obedience. God looked at the big picture in this monumental act, knowing that the release from physical slavery was necessary for Israel to begin their journey towards spiritual freedom and growth.

Even though the Israelites cried out to God, asking Him to release them from slavery, they still found reason to complain when He finally emancipated them. They experienced miracles on their left, right and all around them! God opened the Red Sea to lead them away from the danger of the Egyptian army. God provided them with manna from heaven to feed them when they were hungry. He gave them water to drink from a rock when they were thirsty. He led them on a path of safety through the wilderness by a pillar of fire and a cloud of smoke. It was so obvious and clear that God was in their lives, blessing them on their journey, but it was not enough for them.

The question to ask is, why? Why couldn’t Israel see the mighty hand of God in their lives? Why couldn’t they see the big picture of what God was doing for them? The answer is that they had hardened hearts, mired in the world, swept away with the deceptive pleasures it promulgates. The words of the Bible instruct us to note how wrong this way of thinking is and to be different. “‘Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, “They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:8-12).

Though Israel was free from bondage, drawn to God to follow Him, they were still stuck in the world. Their focus was not on God, but rather, on the physical comforts they craved. “But they sinned even more against Him By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart By asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: They said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?’” (Psalm 78:17-19). They failed to appreciate what God was doing for them. Instead, all they could think about was their physical condition, and how they wanted more and more and more. But that which really mattered – their relationship with God – they completely neglected.

We have a lot that we can learn by considering the hard hearts of ancient Israel. It’s easy to judge their actions from the lens of hindsight, but we are not that much different. We have the same carnal nature as they did. However, we live in an age in which it is exponentially more difficult to keep our focus because we have so many more sensational distractions to entice our human desires!  If we are not vigilant, we may find ourselves following in the same hard-hearted pattern of living as ancient Israel.

Seeing this, it is prudent to turn our questioning inward. Do we see the mighty hand of God working in our lives? If there was a Scripture written about us, would it say the same kinds of things that the Bible says about ancient Israel? Would it say that we complained about not having our physical comforts given to us? Would it say that we failed to appreciate the spiritual gifts that God abundantly provides? I hope that what God sees in us is much better than that.

We have a tremendous opportunity to be saved from death that awaits us all, but we will only receive it if we overcome the world through Jesus Christ. That means that we must take stock of what matters in our lives and honestly evaluate whether we are investing ourselves virtuously. Do we care too much about what we can collect in this physical life? Do we let those things control our emotions and corrupt our values? I hope not, because we have something so much better to live for.

Just as God led Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, He leads us out of the slavery of sin. This fact is just as miraculous in our lives now as it was for Israel then. This is what should guide us and give us hope, because this is what matters.

When considering the creation of the universe and the life that resides on Earth, it is fascinating to contemplate the complexity involved. The function of the eyeball, which amazingly detects light and connects with the brain to stimulate the thought of an image boggles the mind. The planets, stars and other cosmic substances contain an ordered form that is stunning to see. The Earth resides in just the right place in the solar system, with just the right atmosphere that can sustain life. Even the simple building block of a protein molecule works in such a way that it functions in harmony with other protein molecules to fulfill very complex biological functions like digestion, immune response, and reproduction. Of course, we can go on and on with other examples of creation’s complexity and elegant beauty which demonstrate how all the many pieces fit together.

What also boggles my mind is how so many in the world attribute the complexity of the universe and miracle of life to randomness. To rely on randomness to produce the order we observe in our universe is ridiculous. The probability of producing ordered outcomes from a random process for even the simplest examples are infinitesimally small.

In his book “Solve for Happy,” Mo Gawdat uses a hypothetical example of a monkey typing at 220 words per minute to randomly generate a 9-word sentence. At that rate, it would take 2.5 billion-trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion times longer than the estimated age of the earth to produce the desired result. This, of course, is a much simpler task than something like creating life.

Another relatively simple example is the biological process of a protein molecule folding to achieve its stable structure needed to perform a function. The number of ways a protein can fold incorrectly is a massive 10⁷⁴, but there is only one correct way. For this to happen randomly is incomprehensibly improbable, especially when considering the finite age of the universe. Quoting from evolutionnews.org, “the number of ways you can assemble amino acids that won’t fold vastly exceeds the ways that will fold. To expect a random process to search ‘sequence space’ (the set of all sequences of amino acids) and arrive at one that folds is so highly improbable, it will likely never occur in multiple universes.” Just considering these basic examples of randomness applied to our world’s design exposes the problem of attributing order to random process. When acknowledging the vast complexity of creation, you would have to be crazy to think that it is the product of randomness.

It is a much saner position to attribute the ordered, complex beauty of creation to the Creator. The Bible tells us exactly how the universe came into being. God created it! “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psalm 33:6). Jesus Christ in His glorified state created everything. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). He placed the planets and stars in just the right positions. He designed all life and its biological functions. He created it all, and He did not rely on randomness to accomplish it. He was very intentional in His design.

As plain as this Truth is, most of mankind pridefully rejects it. They would much rather trust randomness to explain the order that surrounds them. The Bible has an evaluation of this line of thinking. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22). It is foolish to believe that randomness produced the universe! If applying the extremely improbable odds of randomness producing the universe to a different circumstance, such as winning the lottery, I doubt anyone would expect to win. Yet confoundingly, those same people trust in randomness as the source of creation with brazen certainty. Foolish indeed!

We are fortunate to understand the Truth of creation. Not only is the complexity and order of our physical universe awesome, but the implied meaning is even more amazing. God’s designed creation implies purpose! He has had a plan in mind since the very beginning, which is to bring us into His Family in glory to live with Him eternally. It is God, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (compare 2 Timothy 1:9).  We do not have to rely on randomness in our lives because God has a clear purpose for us. We can trust that with certainty.

By the time you read this, the presidential election in the United States will be complete. Regardless of who the winner is, I expect people within the country and around the world will respond with heightened emotion and strong rhetoric, revealing a mixture of joy and outrage. The elected president of the United States will undoubtedly set the direction for the future of the country, but it does not matter who wins.

The ultimate future of the United States will not change. Sadly, the nation rejects God and at this time shows no indication of changing. The Bible is clear that this rejection will bring about a level of discipline that must take place. Our nation is on a doomed path leading the country to destruction. The only difference between the two candidates will be the means of destruction and who gets the blame for presiding over the demise.

However, the placement of blame that the world will place on the president will be incomplete. The true blame rests with those who reject God and refuse to obey Him. As God led Israel out of Egypt, He gave them a dire warning about the consequences of disobedience. In Deuteronomy 28:15 He warns, “‘But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you…’” Moses then shares the many, many curses that the people can expect to experience, many of which we can apply in our present age. 

As Biblical prophecy unfolds, we will see further deterioration of our nation, to the point when there will be an attack, which results in captivity (compare Deuteronomy 28:47-52). To many, this is unfathomable to consider. How could the world’s most powerful nation drop to its knees and lose its once favorable influence in the world? Certainly, the leaders will have taken the country down this path, but the citizens have also pushed them in that direction so that they cannot avoid it. The Bible clearly explains why. Quite simply, the people have turned from God, and therefore He removes His blessings of prosperity, peace, and protection. What people are voting for in this election is not a president, but rather the one who will satisfy their desires, in which God is not welcome.

As Christians, our job is to reject this unrighteousness that prevails and do what we can to please God. We choose Jesus Christ as our leader, who will guide us in the path of righteousness. We can find solace in looking to Him: “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). Even though this nation, along with the rest of the world, has turned away from God and chooses leaders that do not understand true righteousness, we do not have to follow in that direction. We can and must choose a different path. The path that we follow does not lead to destruction, but to everlasting life.