Friday: Please drop your weapons and put your hands up.

From Exodus 16-18:

1. The Lord is really patient with the Israelites. It did not take very long at all, and here they are grumbling about food. One would expect that after they had seen God's deliverance in an awesome way from the Egyptian army, they would understand that God would help them when they just call upon him, but they don't. After they begin grumbling about no food, God states that he has heard it and will provide. He says, "Then you will know that I am the Lord your God." Perhaps it is just me, but I feel like them grumbling is already wrong. I mean, they saw the plagues, they saw the great deliverance, and they still can't tell that He is their God?

2. I always thought that it was just Americans that are not so smart. No matter how many times you warn someone of not doing something stupid with a consumer product, there are still those that do it.
http://www.sfidboard.com/showthread.php?t=50108 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003343508_warning06.html
We find that the Israelites did similarly stupid things in not following God's directives in collecting manna.

3. God takes note of the Amalekites and declares that in the future he is going to have them destroyed in Exodus 17:14. I wonder why he doesn't have the Israelites do it at this time. After all, he is God.

4. Please drop your weapons and put your hands up. I notice that Moses had to hold both hands up in order to allow the Israelites to win. I have tried to hold something in my hands and hold it up for a long time and I can understand how hard this is. I wonder though, why did God make Moses do this? I mean, God did not need Moses doing this in order to cause the Israelites to win. Perhaps it was to show that it was God that was allowing the victory.

5. Moses's father-in-law comes to visit Moses and gives him some great encouragement and advice. It sure is a blessing to have people who understand, support, and advise when tough times are in store. It is nice to see that even Moses needed support like this.