Satisfaction Guaranteed 

With a statement like the title above, you always have to trust the provider of the product. You also have to trust that when the product has been used up, it can be easily replenished. Like our food sources for example. We can always run to the store & purchase something again. If it's out of stock, another location may have what we're looking for.

The point is, in the end, they've provided us with a product we enjoy, satisfaction guaranteed. But what if God was the trusted Provider? If we looked to God for all of our needs, would satisfaction be guaranteed? Absolutely! If anyone can be trusted, it's God. God continued to prove Himself through His provision to the Israelites in the wilderness by meeting every need, but for some reason, the Israelites had a hard time believing God every step of the way. Could that be comparable to our level of belief in God & His ability to provide? Let's examine ourselves as we look at these situations with the Israelites.

In the last section, we ended on a miracle. The waters were bitter so the people couldn't drink. So carnally (I mean naturally), they were upset. But then the miraculous happened: "And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them," Exodus 15:25.

There He PROVED THEM! Remember? God said if you just follow after Me & obey my law I got you covered! No other kind of Provider can make bitter waters sweet, right? But even still, the Israelites had trouble believing that this provision would continue to the next problematic situation...and they began to murmur & complain:

"And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Exodus 16:2‭-‬3.

So after their thirst was quenched with those sweet waters, they were obviously hungry. Could providing food be more difficult for God than providing water? I THINK NOT: "Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:" Jeremiah 32:17.

Sure enough, God proved them yet again: "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." Exodus 16:4.

Now it seems like from the receiving end, satisfaction is certainly guaranteed! They'd be getting DAILY BREAD! But what about on the giving end? Were the people walking in God's law? Well if anything, we know they had a hard time trusting in the law, even when God came through for them. God does so much for us even though we don't deserve it. We need to always be thankful for that!

And so the Israelites marched on in their journey. Again, they were at a place of thirst. They thirsts for water, but maybe they should have been thirsting for God! The Blesser, not only the blessings! Anyway, the same murmuring took place: "And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Exodus 17:3.

God must have been furious! These same patterns repeating, continuing to think of Egypt as the better option!? But then, doesn't God provide for us and have patience with our human tendencies too? I THINK YES:

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel." Exodus 17:5‭-‬6.

Fresh waters ran out with the tree before, and now water will spill out of the rock! God comes through again! You must be thinking how hard this was for Moses too-I mean, his patience must run out way faster than God's! Well God came through again! In Exodus 18, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, comes to visit with some advice (and Moses' wife and child, which was nice!):

Jethro asked why Moses dealt with each matter of the people, great and small, from morning until evening. Jethro advised him:

"Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:" Exodus 18:18‭-‬19.

God spoke through Jethro & provided Moses some helpful people to get this job done! Moses couldn't do it alone, and neither can we. We need each other, but most importantly, we need to realize our need for God, or the world will continue to disappoint us. Trust in God, satisfaction guaranteed! As we've seen, He ALWAYS comes through! Also, remember, we need to obey Him and remind ourselves that relationships are mutual. It's give & take, not just us doing the taking from God.

God wants to be the trusted Provider! Allow Him into your life!