Exodus 16:1-8
I'm convinced that the children of Israel were Baptist. How else could you explain the complaining? Now, I know that complaining isn't exclusively a Baptist trait, but over the years I have noticed that we have honed it to a pretty precise science. What were these desert wanderers complaining about? They were hungry, thirsty, tired, maybe even a little homesick. How, we might ask, could they be homesick for the bondage of slavery when God had so graciously freed them?
I suppose the answer is found in the familiar, particularly when we evaluate it through the rearview mirror. "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." Nostalgia is a funny thing...when looking back we tend to filter out certain things to focus on others. The hard labor, the brutal treatment, the devaluation of an entire people...all of this is forgotten as their stomach's growl and their throats are parched.
Moses rightly reminds them that their complaints aren't really aimed at him, but at God. He calls them to a perspective that is larger than their present challenge. He calls them to remember the faithfulness of the One who delivered them from Egypt...the One who had faithfully walked with them, even when they were unfaithful. I would not argue here that every complaint is an affront to God, but I do wonder how much of the whining and grumbling we do is aimed more at God than others.
"I will praise the Lord at all times," the Psalmist writes. "His praise shall continually be in my mouth." It is not uncommon for complaints to crowd the pathway of Lent. Our journey takes us to uncomfortable places and makes certain demands upon us. God is faithful to provide. Let us remember that when our complaints seem to get the best of us. May his praise continually be in our mouths.
Prayer: Patient God, forgive our whiny, tiresome complaints. With every step of this Lenten journey, may we praise you. Amen.
Jim Abernathy
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