After they crossed the Red Sea, or Reed Sea, Moses and his people were thankful that God had saved them from the Egyptians. Miriam, his sister, played a tambourine and led the other women in singing and dancing.

But the children of Israel needed the faith of Moses more than ever. They were still a long way from reaching Canaan, the Promised Land, and there were many situations ahead that would test their faith in the power of God. Moses helped them to trust. To not be afraid. To find God's help right where they were.

Soon they were thirsty, and the water they found was bitter and undrinkable. It wasn't long before they were giving Moses a hard time about being in the desert without good water. As he always did, Moses turned to God, and God told him to cast the wood of a tree into the water. This purified the water and made it good enough to drink. Moses told the children of Israel that if they would obey God, He would protect them. And soon after, they found a place with abundant springs of good water.

Then, after they were satisfied with water, the people started complaining about not having food. They even complained to Moses and his brother Aaron that it would have been better if they had stayed in Egypt, in slavery, because at least they had had bread there. Moses heard God telling him that there would be food—from heaven—to feed the people. And sure enough, each morning after the dew was gone, they found a lot of mysterious, flaky stuff that looked like frost covering the ground. They ate it and called it manna. There was always enough manna to feed everyone, but they had to trust that it would be there each day. If they tried to save some manna for the next day, it spoiled and smelled bad. This was an important lesson for the people—to trust God from day to day.

One time, as they continued on their journey in the wilderness, there wasn't any water at all. They gave Moses a lot of grief about this, saying that he had led them out there to die. Even though they had been led through so many trials, they seriously doubted that God could save them this time. Moses begged God to help him deal with these people. He got the guidance to go ahead of them and to strike a big rock with the same staff he had used to divide the Red Sea. When he did, water poured out.

The children of Israel were in the wilderness for a long time, learning from Moses that they could follow God just as he did. A big part of this was being obedient to God's laws. Since the people didn't often know what was right and what was wrong in the sight of God, Moses was led by God to write it down—in stone. That way the laws would be with the people forever.

God gave these laws to Moses when he was alone on Mount Sinai. They are known as the Ten Commandments. They say something like this:

1. Have no Gods but the one God.

2. Don't carve images of God in wood or stone and bow to them.

3. Don't swear.

4. Keep the Sabbath day each week holy.

5. Respect your parents.

6. Don't kill.

7. Be faithful to your husband or your wife.

8. Don't steal.

9. Don't lie.

10. Don't envy what someone else has.

While Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving God's Commandments, the people were feeling alone, doubting that God was with them. They made a statue of gold to worship, shaped like a calf. When Moses saw it, he was so angry he broke the stone tablets that the Ten Commandments were carved on. It took a while for him to calm down and bring the people back to worshiping the one God. And he had to write down another copy of the Commandments.

God told Moses to have the people make a beautiful container for the stone tablets on which the Commandments were written. They called it the ark of the covenant. An ark is a box. A covenant is a sacred agreement. The Ten Commandments were proof of God's covenant with the Hebrews. They were part of His promise to lead and protect them—and also their promise to obey and worship Him alone. The ark was very important to the people. On their journey, they always carried it with great respect.

The Bible says the children of Israel were in the wilderness for a long time. During this time Moses continued to show them that they were able to obey and trust God. He prayed for them when they got in trouble. Once when his sister Miriam became very angry and sick, Moses prayed to God and asked Him to heal her. She was healed. This helped show that the power of God was even able to save people from sickness.

Even though Moses got so close to the Promised Land that he could see it from a mountain, he died before the Hebrews actually crossed the Jordan River and, led by Joshua, set foot in Canaan. But Moses had succeeded in what God gave him to do. He will never be forgotten. His faith inspired his people to trust God. And God led them all the way home.