Word of Encouragement (10/27/2022)
I’m sure you are getting tired of Israel’s complaints. It’s not just that they complained; they complained about things in the same way as if they had not experienced the LORD’s deliverance from the same problem, and as if they had not been punished for the same complaint, for falsely accusing God of bringing them out of Egypt just to kill them in the wilderness! (Here, they were complaining to, and accusing, Moses and Aaron. But as they were God’s servants, who did what the LORD bade them to do, which the people of Israel all knew well, they were indirectly accusing God Himself.)
We may wonder why God allowed the Israelites to run out of water again(!) when He knew that they would complain like this again. He must have known this as an omniscient God, right? Even so, we can see this as God testing them, giving them another opportunity to learn from their past mistakes and do what is right. Should we fault God for doing this? These tests did not make them sin, did they? When they failed the test, it only brought to light what was already in their hearts. But we must not deny that every test comes with the opportunity for us to do the right thing.
But sadly, these narratives of Israel’s complaints show the depth of their sinfulness. One of the reasons that they are recorded in the Bible is to justify the punishment they were under. They were condemned to perish in the wilderness for accusing God of an evil motive to kill them and refusing the enter the promised land (Num. 14). Yet, they had the audacity to complain about the lack of water—what did they expect when the LORD told them that He would allow them to perish in the wilderness? It was one thing to humbly ask for water but to complain like this? They acted as though their lot to perish in the wilderness had nothing to do with their sin but everything to do with God’s evil intention!
But these narratives of Israel’s complaints also show the power of sin: once we allow it to latch on to us, it is able to drive us mad, making us commit the most shameful, heinous sins and think that they are perfectly normal! It was not that the Israelites were a particularly bad people, worse than other peoples. This could happen to the saintliest person. Think about David, a man after God’s own heart, and what evil he was capable of doing when sin took a hold of him—committing adultery with the wife of his loyal servant, Uriah, and killing him to cover his sin!
If we are growing weary of listening to Israel’s same complaints over and over again, imagine how wearisome and odious they must have been to God! Would He not have been justified in destroying them right there and then? But God used Israel’s persistent rebellion as the backdrop, against which He showed the greatness of His grace and mercy. Instead of responding with wrath and punishment, God responded by providing water for them.
If God was so patient with the people of Israel, who were condemned to die in the wilderness for their rebellion, how much more patient God will be with us, for whom Christ laid down His life for our forgiveness and redemption! And how unbecoming of us it is to complain to God when He has given us redemption and eternal life through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Let us not succumb to the grumbling spirit. Rather, let us give thanks to God for all of His benefits, even for the hardships He allows in our lives as opportunities to prove our trust in Him!