Golden Tickets And Grumbling Hearts

Introduction:

I took some time recently to focus on the blessings God has given me over the last 33 years I have been in ministry. I am in total awe of what I’m able to count. Beyond the obvious blessings of family, God has repeatedly stepped in at moments when I didn’t know what to do.

He sent food when I didn’t know where food was coming from.

He provided education at Carey and NOBTS, and now a doctorate at Andersonville.

He gave Shena and me rest when ministry nearly broke us.

He made Christmas possible for my daughters when I had no idea how to provide it.

He has taken care of our transportation needs for over 25 years.

God is amazing!

And I have learned to trust Him more than I once did.

Andre Crouch said it best: “If I never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that God could solve them.”

But that’s not how we usually respond.

Instead of seeking God’s will, we seek our own solutions.

We want what WE think is best.

We Want OUR will, OUR choice and OUR solutions in OUR time.

When those fail, we complain.

When complaining doesn’t fix it, we blame.

And that’s exactly where Israel is in Exodus 16 — hungry, frustrated, and complaining… even though God had already proven Himself faithful.

It reminds me of a movie I love: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

In that movie, Wonka opens the doors to a world of wonders.

Everything is wonder.

Everything is a blessing.

Everything is a gift.

Everything is grace; it is all far more than they deserve.

But the children who enter the factory complain, demand, and grumble their way through the entire tour.

Surrounded by blessings, they still find something wrong.

Israel did the same thing.

And if we’re honest… so do we.

God pours out blessings on us every single day, yet we still find something to grumble about.

He gives us sunshine and we say, “It’s too hot.”

He sends a cool breeze and we complain, “It’s too cold.”

He provides for our needs and we answer, “I need more money.”

He increases our income and we fuss that we’ve moved into a higher tax bracket.

He allows us to buy a new car and we gripe that it uses too much gas.

He blesses us through a friend who hands us a gift card to Sonic, and instead of saying thank You, Lord, we mutter, “Well… it’s not Outback.”

We live surrounded by God’s goodness, yet we act like we’re surrounded by burdens. God blesses us every day and all we do is complain.

That brings me to our first point; Blessings Don’t prevent Complaining. We take a kindness and turn it into a complaint. We take a blessing and turn it into a burden. We take God’s provision and act like it’s a problem.

Body:

I. Blessings Don’t Prevent Complaining.

(Israel forgets God’s miracles / kids complain in a candy paradise)

We’re not all that different from the children Willy Wonka has to deal with in his factory.

Given more than they deserve, they still want something else.

And if we’re honest, we do the very same thing with God.

Think about the moment the children first enter the Chocolate Room. It’s paradise — edible grass, chocolate rivers, candy everywhere. What kid wouldn’t be elated?

But it doesn’t take long before the complaining starts.

Veruca wants more.

Violet wants something different.

Augustus wants something now.

Even surrounded by blessings, they find something to grumble about.

Israel had seen miracles — plagues, Passover, the Red Sea — yet the moment hunger hit, they forgot every blessing and started complaining.

They feared starvation before starvation was even a threat.

They focused more on their past than on God’s presence.

They said, “We wish we had died in Egypt!”

They forgot the slavery, but remembered the stew pots.

Complaining always distorts memory.

It makes Egypt look better than it was and makes God look smaller than He is.

Just like those kids in Wonka’s factory, Israel walked into blessing after blessing… and still found something to complain about.

Transition: And when things get bad, people often turn on the very ones trying to help them.

II. Complaining Always Finds Someone to Blame.

(Israel blames Moses / kids blame Wonka for their own choices)

In Willy Wonka, every time Wonka gives a warning, the children ignore it — and then blame someone else when things go wrong.

Augustus blames the river.

Violet blames the gum.

Veruca blames her parents.

Mike blames the TV room.

Nobody takes responsibility.

Everybody complains.

And every complaint is aimed at the very man who invited them into the factory.

Israel did the same thing.

They turned on Moses and Aaron — the very men God used to deliver them.