Sometime ago, I received an email with the statistics of the great exodus of the Israelites from the oppressive rule of the Egyptian Pharaohs, led by Moses. The first thing that surprised me was the enormous daily requirement of the people in flight, about which I too had never thought of. Moses and the people drifted through the desert, but what was Moses going to do with the people who followed him then? The number of people on the run was between two and three millions… and they had to be fed.
The email I got stated: ‘According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day. To transport that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile long, would have been required! Remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have needed firewood for the cooking. This would have taken 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. Imagine they were forty years in transit. And oh, yes! They would have needed water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would have taken 11,000,000 gallons each day and required a tanker train, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!
And then another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would have required 35 days and nights getting through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.
Then, there is another problem… each time the Israelites pitched camp at the end of the day, an area two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles… think of that! So much space for camping! Do you think Moses had figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of all these details for him!’
The estimate could be somewhat exaggerated. But it highlights the fact that God knows what we need and He provides us everything appropriately. But in our ordinary life situations, we consciously suspect His capacity to do that. There is oxygen in the atmosphere, which is more than enough to support dozens of earths. God gave us water and the life on earth is never going to use it all up! Same with all what the nature provides for the sustenance of life. Still, when it comes to individual matters, we think of a God who has hardly enough stock for our family and our prayers turn to be relentless begging for mercy and partiality. Prayers turn requests and pleadings the moment our trust in Him is limited.
