Grumble, grumble
As long as His saving presence
is with us, what is there to grumble about?
You and I can hardly imagine what it must have
been like for the Israelites in Egypt, to first endure the slavery there for so
long, then to be led out of Egypt by Moses after the ten plagues, then to be
pursued by Pharaoh and his army, then to be miraculously led on dry land after
the parting of the Red Sea, then to see the submersion of the Egyptian army.
What an impression of God's saving power those experiences must have left!
And yet, as soon as the Israelites resume
their trek to the promised land, they forget the great things God has done for
them, and they start grumbling - grumbling about lack of water, lack of food,
about all their hardships. They go so far in their despair as to find
themselves longing for the fleshpots of Egypt - they start convincing
themselves that mindless slavery was preferable to freedom and the burdens of
responsibility. Clearly, no one can deny that the Israelites had real needs in
the wilderness, but rather than grumbling and complaining, they should have
turned to God in faith, knowing that the One who had rescued them from slavery
in Egypt would surely not abandon them to starvation in the desert!
I think you and I too often follow the
Israelites' bad example, because no matter how great an impression God's grace
left on us when He's clearly come to our aid in the past, we nonetheless
struggle to stand confidently in our faith that God will not abandon us in our
present or future difficulties. But that's the best thing we can do with the
fears and struggles of this day - to face them all with the confident assurance
and faith that God is with us as He has promised - and as long as His saving
presence is with us, what is there to grumble about?