Introduction:
A. I like the story of the man who decided to join a monastery and one of the rules of the particular monastic group was that you were only allowed to speak two words at the end of every ten years.
1. At the end of his first ten years he said, “Food Bad!”
2. At the end of his second ten years he said, “Bed Hard!”
3. Finally, on his 30th anniversary at the monastery he said, “I quit!”
4. The monk in charge responded, “It doesn’t surprise me a bit. You’ve done nothing but complain ever since you got here.”
B. Let me ask you: Is that an apt description of you? “You’ve done nothing but complain ever since you got here?”
1. As we will see in our lesson today, that is a fitting statement about the Israelites.
2. About all they have done since they left Egypt is grumble and complain.
C. So let’s spend a little time today trying to learn from their mistakes, so that we might not grumble, but be humble.
I. The Story
A. Last week in our study of the life of Moses, we witnessed the miracle of the Red Sea crossing and the destruction of the army of Pharaoh who pursued the Israelites into the sea.
1. After witnessing this awesome event, God’s people feared the Lord and trusted the Lord and sang a song of praise to the Lord.
2. But as is often the case with many of us the trust and praise were short lived.
B. The first story we are going to look at today is found in Exodus 15:22-27.
1. It presents for us a picture of the Israelites’ wilderness experience in miniature.
2. They are going to wander in the desert for 40 years and this cycle is going to happen repeatedly.
3. The cycle goes like this:
a. First, comes abundance – we have what we need and we are content and thankful.
b. Second, comes expectation – when we enjoy abundance, we expect that it will continue.
c. The third step in the cycle, is disappointment – the abundance we expected disappears and we are disappointed.
d. Fourth in the cycle is complaint – disappointment leads to grumbling and complaining.
e. The final part of the cycle is provision – God, in His grace, often after discipline, provided what was needed.
4. Let’s see how this cycle reveals itself in today’s episodes in Moses’ story and let’s see if it is a cycle we recognize in our lives as well.
C. The Bible says: 22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) [Marah means bitter] 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” (15:22-24)
1. How would you like to travel three days in the desert without water? Not too fun.
2. If I don’t take enough water on our annual mountain hike and I begin to get thirsty, it is uncomfortable. Fortunately, usually someone else on the hike has enough to share with me.
3. Is it unreasonable to need water after three days in the desert? No.
4. Is it wrong to ask for water to drink when we are thirsty? Of course not!
5. But there is a big difference between making a humble request, and making a prideful complaint.
6. They didn’t just ask Moses if he could provide something to drink, they grumbled against Moses.
7. I can imagine the grumbling sounded something like this: “What’s the matter with that guy, he leads us out here in the desert and gives us nothing to drink! What kind of leader would do that? Certainly not a smart one or a caring one!”
D. Again, like last week, I’m proud of Moses and his response to the crisis.
1. The Bible says: 25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. (15:25)
2. Moses did the right thing - he took the matter to the Lord and God provided the solution.
3. God certainly knows what we need and wants to supply what we need.
4. Our first response should be to make a request, not a complaint.
E. We are then told about a covenant that God entered into with Israel and then moved them to a much better place – what a blessed provision.
1. The Bible says: There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water. (15:25-27)
2. Why wasn’t the Lord angry with the people on this occasion?
3. Later in their wanderings, God will discipline them more severely for their grumbling, but why not at this point?
4. I believe that God was treating them in the same way we treat younger children.
a. We expect a lot more from older children than younger ones, right?
b. The first time a child needs correction, we don’t approach it like we would after years of correcting them for the same thing.
5. Israel was very new to following God, and God is being very patient and graceful at this point.
F. Let’s continue the story, the Bible says: 1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (16:1-3)
1. Okay, so what is the problem this time?
2. The people were hungry. They asked, “Where’s the grub? What’s for dinner?”
3. Remember the cycle: Abundance – Expectation – Disappointment – Complaint - Provision.
4. Don’t you love the way we sometimes exaggerate “the good old days?”
a. When things aren’t going so good in the present, it is easy to look back and exaggerate how good it used to be.
b. Chances are the very things we are grumbling about right now, we will look back on two years from now as the “good old days.”
5. Consider the Israelites’ “good old days”…they were slaves in Egypt and had it so good, right?!
G. Yet, even though God’s people were grumbling, God graciously and miraculously answered their need.
1. The Bible says: 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.” (16:4-8)
2. So God miraculously put in place the method of feeding His people – manna in the morning and meat at night.
a. We notice in the rest of the chapter that God gave them very specific instructions about the manna – how much to gather, not to keep it until the next day, and how that there would be no manna on the Sabbath so the day before the Sabbath they were allowed to gather two days’ worth and it would not go bad.
b. Not surprisingly, some obeyed and some did not and they learned the lessons about the manna the hard way.
3. This method of providing the food needs of Israel was going to be in place for 40 years. Look at the last verse of this chapter: 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. (16:34-35)
4. Moses took the opportunity to set something straight with the Israelites.
a. He said: “Who are we, that you grumble against us? Look, we’re just people – flesh and blood, like you. Furthermore, this wasn’t our idea! WE didn’t lead you into the wilderness. That was God’s doing. We didn’t put that cloud up there. We didn’t light that pillar of fire. So don’t complain against us!”
5. They needed to keep in mind, as do we, that God is the one who has made or allowed our circumstances to be what they are.
6. Our complaints and grumbling land at His feet, and are ultimately a criticism of the Lord.
H. The final story for today is kind of a rerun of the first.
1. The Bible says: 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” (17:1-4)
2. So here we go again! We are back to the same cycle: Abundance – Expectation – Disappointment – Complaint – Provision.
3. Again there is no water. Again they grumble, but things seemed to be a bit more heated.
4. It says they quarreled with Moses, and were ready to stone him.
5. These are not the exaggerated words of a frightened leader, this is the literal truth – they were so angry, they were ready to kill their leader.
6. Moses knew a threatening scene when he saw one! So what did he do?
I. The Bible says: 5 The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” (17:5-7)
1. God’s instruction to Moses was to strike the rock with the staff, and out came all the water they needed.
2. Unfortunately, this episode will repeat itself in the future, and God’s instruction to Moses will be to speak to the rock, rather than strike it, but Moses will disobey God and experience a severe consequence.
3. But for now, Moses obeyed the command, and God provided.
J. When we boil grumbling down to its basic common denominator, we realize it is actually asking the Lord, “Are You here, or not?”
1. It is ultimately an expression of unrestrained, verbal doubt.
2. Because Moses wanted the people to remember their error, he named the place Meribah which means “quarrel”, because he wanted them to remember with Whom they had argued.
3. Whenever they told the story at some future time, they’d have to remember their quarrel with God.
4. Like some of our slogans of the past: “Remember the Alamo,” “Remember the Maine,” “Remember Pearl Harbor,” Moses was saying, “Remember the Meribah.”
5. Remember when you argued with the living God.
6. Again, as you can see, Moses provided impressive leadership, and God provided marvelous grace.
7. God was exceedingly patient, but His patience did eventually run out, as we know from Israel’s history.
II. The Application
A. What lessons can we learn from these unsettling experiences in the wilderness? At least three come to mind.
B. First, we learn that it takes a humble heart to grow through life’s tests.
1. There’s an interesting story told about Courtney Love, who was married to the late Kurt Cobaine, the former leader of the band Nirvana.
a. Courtney Love is a rock star in her own right and enjoys the privileges that go with wealth and fame.
b. On one occasion she was charged with disorderly conduct and had to make a court appearance.
c. On the day of her court appearance, she arrived at the Manhattan Criminal Court building in her black stretch limo.
d. Assuming privilege, she attempted to bypass the security line, but was stopped by a security officer who told to take her turn in line like everyone else.
e. She complained to a reporter at the scene: “The guy wants me to stand in line with everybody else. I’m not everybody else.” (New York Times, 10/21/04)
2. When we have a sense of entitlement and pride, then everybody else is everybody else – not us.
3. Truth is that all of us are equally special in God’s eyes, and are equally undeserving of God’s grace.
4. When we face trials and difficulties, the prideful heart says, “Why me?” and the humble heart says, “Why not me?”
5. The person with the humble heart is able to say, “I’m where God wants me to be, and He will help me endure whatever I’m facing.”
6. In humility, we should strive to accept and learn from whatever test and trial we have to face and we should try to do so without complaining and grumbling.
7. That approach to life is so pleasing to God, and will be so empowered and blessed by God.
C. Second, we learn that it takes a trusting heart to grow through life’s tests.
1. When I see the way the Israelites reacted every time they faced a new trial or a renewed trial, I’m dumbfounded at how short was their memory.
2. But then, I have to stop and examine myself, and realize that too often I’m just like them!
3. God had brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, and the first trial they face – no water – throws them into doubt and despair.
4. I want to say to them, “Hello...the God who brought you through the waters of the Red Sea can surely provide the water you need to drink.
5. But how quickly do we forget the last test God brought us through?
6. We must not approach each new test as though we have never faced a test before.
7. Rather we must store up in our hearts the reassuring memory of the faithfulness of the Lord.
8. So when a new test comes, our first thought is: “God brought me through the last one, and so I trust that He will bring me through this one as well!”
9. All of that takes concentration and practice, but it will serve us well and God will be pleased.
D. Finally, we learn that it takes a grateful heart to grow through life’s tests.
1. Humility and trust lead to thanksgiving.
2. God provided what the Israelites needed – the water for their thirst, and the manna and meat for their hunger.
3. God promises us over and over that He will provide what we need, and that we need not worry about it.
4. I like a story told of the famous author, Rudyard Kipling – author of The Jungle Book.
a. Kipling’s writings not only made him famous, but also brought him a fortune.
b. One day a newspaper reporter said to Kipling, “Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you have made from your writings amount to over $100 per word.”
c. The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to Kipling saying, “Here’s $100, Mr. Kipling. Now please give me one of your $100 words.”
d. Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, “My $100 word is ‘Thanks.’ ”
5. True gratitude is valuable beyond calculation – worth much more than $100.
6. God is so pleased when we receive what He provides with gratitude in our hearts.
E. So let’s finish up by taking a hard look at ourselves – do we grumble or are we humble?
1. The keys to facing life’s tests and trials without grumbling and complaining include humility, trust and gratitude.
2. When we face the assorted trials of our lives, may God help us to reach out to Him with a humble, trusting, and grateful heart!
3. And may the words we speak, however few or many, be expressions of humility, faith and gratitude.
Resources:
Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1999
“Grumbling Before A Gracious God” Sermon by Monty Newton, SermonCentral.com
“You Don’t Have to Grumble - There’s Hope for the Weary!” by Rick Shockley, SermonCentral.com
