“The sons of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”
Exodus 16:3
It seems impossible that Israel would grumble so soon after seeing such a wonder as the parting of the Red Sea and the wholesale destruction of Pharaoh and the army of Egypt. Within three verses in the text (three days in real time for the Israelites) they go from the heights of praise singing and dancing, to grumbling against Moses for water. And then again, they grumbled about food, and then for water again. As an outside observer reading the story it’s easy to criticize Israel, but guess what? I do the same thing almost every day. Such is the blindness of unbelief. It will not be satisfied with the past works of God. It will not trust in the future works of God. At the moment of need it grumbles and complains rather than trusting in God.
All I have to do to see how much I have in common with Israel is to equate each impulse I have toward grumbling with the same sin of unbelief that Israel demonstrated in the wilderness. Ouch.
I don’t want to be unbelieving but believing. I’d rather act with anticipation waiting patiently by faith to see the gracious provision of God for my needs, than grumble and complain, poisoning my heart, blinding me to His goodness, and dishonoring Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:10 says that this exact passage (noting especially the grumbling of Israel) was written for my instruction, that I might take heed and resist temptation–the temptation in this case to grumbling. So what is there that can help me be more faithful and less complaining?
The passage reveals two things that happen when the grumbling of unbelief rises in my soul. By learning to recognize these two traits of unbelief perhaps I can enact an early warning system in my soul so that when I start to see them I can repent more quickly.
One, the grumbling of unbelief does not see who its accusation is really directed toward, and two, it greatly exaggerates and distorts the circumstances at hand.
First it is misdirected. When I grumble in unbelief it may be at my computer, my children, a client, or some other object of frustration. Yet, the providence of God is behind every circumstance and so my grumbling is really against God. I can just imagine my computer responding like Moses, “who am I, just a bunch of processors and circuit boards–that you complain against me–your grumblings are not against me, but against the Lord.”
Secondly, when I grumble in unbelief my perceptions get distorted. There may very well be a real frustration or need, but in unbelief I exaggerate and mischaracterize the problem. Did Israel really believe that Moses did everything he did with the purpose of getting them out into the desert just to starve them to death? Come on! How could they say that? Yet what do I do when my computer won’t print? “Ahgh, that Bill Gates is out to get me! Microsoft is evil, they are trying to drive me crazy” How exaggerated and distorted! How blind to the hundreds of blessings my computer enables every day! For every software glitch I experience there must be thousands working properly, each designed by an engineer with a genuine desire to make my life better or easier through software. Yet one failure and my flesh is convinced that “they’re all out to get me.”
If I monitor the thoughts of my heart closely, looking out for these two characteristics of a grumbling unbelieving heart, perhaps I will catch myself more often and thereby sin less and trust God more. But what of the dozens of times every day when I don’t catch my grumbles? After all, murmuring and complaining flow so naturally out of a sinful heart like mine. What of all these sins? Thank God, His Grace by the blood of Christ is powerful enough to both change me and to forgive me when I fail–though my failure is as common as breathing. John Owen described so well, the vastness of God’s grace in view of the commonness of my sins,
“How many millions of sins, in every one of the elect, every one whereof were enough to condemn them all, has this love overcome! What mountains of unbelief does it remove! Look upon the conversation of any one saint, consider the frame of his heart, see the many stains and spots, the defilements and infirmities, wherewith his life is contaminated, and tell me whether the love that bears with all this be not to be admired. And is it not the same towards thousands every day? What streams of grace, purging, pardoning, quickening, assisting, do flow from it every day! This is our Beloved, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.” Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Beware O my soul, of the misdirection of grumbling and the exaggeration of circumstances. Though they may be toward inconsequential things, like computers, they nevertheless reveal the presence of unbelief in your heart. So repent. Listen to the Word–it is not silicon chips that you vent your rage toward, but the Lord. And He is not out to get you. Far from it, He is out to bless you. When you hear the grumbling of unbelief rising up—be quiet, repent, and remind yourself of what is true and accurate about your circumstances. Put off the grumbling of unbelief and return to the songs of praise which flow from seeing and remembering the glory of the Lord, His goodness, His perfect care, and the millions of ways He blesses you every day. So be it Lord. Amen.
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