Grumbling
Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” Then Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the LORD, not against us.” Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’”
How can human beings accurately figure out what is a test from God and what is just a circumstance they never should have gotten themselves into? In the case of the Israelites, they should have been able to say, “If God is visibly leading us in the form of the pillar of cloud, then we’re supposed to be here, and our experience so far tells us that he’ll provide for us this time too.” The Israelites didn’t. They were only one month from leaving Egypt through the miraculous power of God. They had forgotten. Unfortunately, that is too often our perspective too. We should heed the words of Psalms 103:2; "Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me."
We are forgetful grumblers too. We’re too busy, too bored, we don’t have enough money, we’re not appreciated, we don’t like our church, our sports teams stink, we don’t look good, don’t feel good, we’re too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall, our clothes aren’t cool, our car’s a lemon, we’re single and wish we were married, we’re married and we wish we had kids, we have kids and we wish we could be single again. We moan and murmur like whiney two-year-olds. Like two-year-olds who moan for the new toy, we have forgotten the closet full of toys.
But God calls us to patience and longsuffering. And He calls us to confidence too. When we are assured that God is working all things according to his good purpose, we are freed to “do everything without complaining or arguing”
- --Do you grumble and complain?
- --Spend time today thanking God instead of grumbling. Look for ways He is at work in those places you would rather grumble about.
--Zine Smith
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