19 - Grumbling

How is it possible that only three days after a miracle of the magnitude of parting the Red Sea that people could fear they would die of thirst? And then only a few days after God turned a briny pond into a pool of fresh water they could angrily complain “…you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (16:3). As we read these accounts the most amazing part isn’t the miracles but the doubt that persisted in the hearts of those who saw those miracles with their own eyes. It’s completely illogical that a person would see a miracle of that magnitude and then three days later assume God intended to let them die of thirst. We must be dealing with something more than doubts about God’s power. No one in their right mind could doubt His power after what they’d seen. So there had to be deeper issues in their hearts that caused them to grumble. There had to be attitudes that blinded them to the obvious spiritual message contained in these miracles. In our lesson for today we’ll try to identify some of these attitudes so we can avoid them or repent where they have crept in. As Jesus’ disciples we too will face hardship and testing, yet Israel’s example can help us avoid making the same mistakes.