“Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the LORD hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.”
—Exodus 16:8
Our text reveals something that is common with sinful people — the sin of complaining. No matter what a man possesses he always seems to complain that he does not have enough or what he has is not good enough. He complains about his home, job, possessions, spouse, the weather, the church, the preacher, his neighbor, you name it, man complains about it. However, complaining is a grievous sin against God, especially for believers, because God gives all things according to His own good pleasure. To complain about what God gives or does is simply saying that we know better than God. This attitude is blasphemous, and it demonstrates distrust in God’s Word, and this is exactly what we see happening to the children of Israel in Exodus 16.
The children of Israel were eye-witnesses of the powerful hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt. They saw water turn to blood, the frogs, the lice, the flies, the Egyptian’s livestock diseased, the ashes become boils, the large hailstones, the locusts, the darkness in Egypt for three days, and the death of all the firstborn in Egypt (Passover). They continually saw the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night, and how the Lord bound the wheels of the Egyptian chariots and drowned them in the Red Sea while the Israelites passed through on dry ground. But approximately six weeks after they had witnessed all these miraculous works of the Lord they complained against the Lord and His prophet Moses and priest Aaron. Exodus 16:3, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
After all the Lord did for them how could they complain against Him and not trust His Word? Well, how can we complain against the Lord and not trust His Word after all He has done and continues to do for us? Is not the God of Scripture completely trustworthy to keep His promises? Yet, each time a disaster threatens we despair and forget all the past mercies of God. We distrust God’s Providence and we murmur and complain just as the Israelites, even though God promises to provide for all the needs of His people. God saved our wretched souls by His grace and imputed all our sins to Christ in exchange for Christ’s righteousness being imputed to us. He provides us with great abundance everyday and has not given us what our sins deserve. Yet we murmur and complain when things do not go our way.
Take time today to reflect on the love, grace, mercy, and goodness of God toward His people, and then ask the Lord to forgive you for the lack of thankfulness you have shown toward Him by all your murmuring and complaining against His wondrous providence in your life. Psalm 39:1, “I said, “I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle.” Let this be the prayer of all the redeemed of Christ!!
Friday Devotional: November 27, 2020
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry