The heavenly winds of miracle power blew in their favor,
and food rained down upon them;
succulent quail quieted their hunger as they ate all they wanted.
Food fell from the skies, thick as clouds;
their provision floated down right in front of their eyes!
He gave them all they desired, and they ate to their fill.
But before they had even finished,
even with their food still in their mouths,
God’s fiery anger arose against them,
killing the finest of their mighty men.
Yet in spite of all this, they kept right on sinning.
Even when they saw God’s marvels,
they refused to believe God could care for them.
So God cut their lives short with sudden disaster,
with nothing to show for their lives but fear and failure.
When he cared for them they ignored him,
but when he began to kill them, ending their lives in a moment,
they came running back to God, pleading for mercy.
They remembered that God, the Mighty One,
was their strong protector,
the Hero-God who would come to their rescue.
But their repentance lasted only as long as they were in danger;
they lied through their teeth to the true God of the Covenant.
So quickly they wandered away from his promises,
following God with their words and not their hearts!
Their worship was only flattery.
But amazingly, God—so full of compassion—still forgave them.
He covered over their sins with his love,
refusing to destroy them all.
Over and over he held back his anger,
restraining wrath to show them mercy.
He knew that they were made from mere dust—
frail, fragile, and short-lived, here today and gone tomorrow.
How many times they rebelled in their desert days!
How they grieved him with their grumblings.
Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them.
Continually they turned back from him
and provoked the Holy One of Israel!
They forgot his great love, how he took them by his hand,
and with redemption’s kiss he delivered them from their enemies.
They disregarded all the epic signs and marvels they saw
when they escaped from Egypt’s bondage.
They forgot the judgment of the plagues that set them free.
God turned their rivers into blood, leaving the people thirsty.
He sent them vast swarms of filthy flies that sucked their blood.
He sent hordes of frogs, ruining their lives.
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