Have you ever read this story?

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” Exodus 16

I have read this passage of Scripture countless times, but this was the first time I really thought about Israel’s complaint. The complaint…there was no water. Now, let’s just think about that for a minute. The people couldn’t live without water. They were thirsty, and they were thirsty to the point of nearly stoning Moses (read the whole chapter).  The sin wasn’t that they asked, but the nature of their heart…full of grumbling and quarrelsome unbelief. Israel complained and grumbled and so do we. 

I think it can be pretty easy to feel superior to Israel to look at their struggles and the gravity of their sinfulness and shake our heads with disdain, a quiet consolation that we are not that bad, but we are. What do we complain about? The internet connection is not fast enough. We had to get up in the middle of the night with sick little ones again. We’re wearied of the laundry, the dishes, the cooking… Catch us on the wrong day and it could sound like we bemoan life itself (smile). We are complainers. We have great need to learn to be content. That’s one reason I think the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write these words.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world… Philippians 2

When we complain we begin to act like the whole rest of the world. We act as though God cannot change things. We act as if He is unloving and powerless to move in our lives. We act as though His gifts are insignificant. We wouldn’t be so bold as to say that out loud, but just as Israel took their miraculous freedom and grumbled about it…complained that they didn’t have this or that, so do we. They had GOD leading them guiding them protecting them, but they valued physical things (yeah, things they did actually need) more.

What do you value more than God? What do you grumble about in the depths of your spirit? What is it you think the good and generous Father is withholding from you? Sometimes the thing we complain about is actually something we need but…..

the Father is asking us to have a heart that trusts God and leans into Him rather than a spirit that rejects God and blames Him.

The things we complain about are usually things we do not even need. We open our mouths and murmur and grumble. We get angry and insist on our own way. We want and we want and we want and we do not trust or thank God for what He gives. No sooner has one “need” or want been met than we’re on to the next one. We’re living worldly and thankless, and there is nothing distinguishing us from the world when this is the mode we’re living in.

Thanks not complaint should be the native tongue of a child of God.

This is the root of idolatry…thankless grumbling pride. We’re looking to the things we need or want, physical things, to meet our spiritual need and it will never work.

Let us admit and repent of our haughty spirits that demand God give us something we do not yet have. Remembering that it really is ok to ask Him for whatever we need, with hearts full of trust and gratitude. May we realize this Gospel freedom, this freedom purchased with precious blood, that He has given is lavish favor we never deserved in the first place.