With the high of the miraculous Red Sea crossing long behind them and the journey through the wilderness wearing on them, Israel becomes hungry. We read in Exodus 16:2 that they grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
…“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!” Exodus 16:3
Somehow, they could remember the taste of unleavened bread and roasted lamb. But, where was their memory of the bitter herbs meant to remind them of the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt?
Let’s not be too quick to condemn Israel. Their journey was terribly hard. They were dragging all they owned through the Sinai desert—the wilderness—for about a month at this point. Food was scarce and hunger is a hard burden. I wonder, how many of their children had asked for food they couldn’t provide? That would break the strongest of us, for sure. This is not a time to minimize Israel’s hardship, but to recognize the weight of it.
We rob ourselves of the comfort of Scripture when we minimize its message. When we make the failures of our heroic characters smaller, or the tribulations described in the Bible less than they were, we rob ourselves of the comfort of a God who provides, heals, and restores amidst the worst of situations. We leave ourselves ill-prepared to endure the discipline of sanctification in exchange for the eternal weight of glory that awaits us (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Israel, in her hunger, is hurting, and she turns it all toward Moses and Aaron. Fortunately, Moses is able to see this hurt for what it is, and yet again, he speaks caution over God’s people.
“…in the morning you will see the LORD’s glory because He has heard your complaints about Him. For who are we that you complain about us? …He has heard the complaints that you are raising against Him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD” (Exodus 16:7-8).
Are we able to receive Moses’s words of caution? He doesn’t scold them for being hungry. But he does call them to account for the reality of their words. Around 1500 years before Christ, Moses previews the warning Jesus will issue to the Pharisees: “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34, NKJV). Their grumbling was an overflow of their heart toward God, their lack of trust that He would honor His word to them and continue to provide for their needs.
Israel is hurting, but she is not in a place where she will lift her hurt to the Lord. And because she won’t lift her hurt to the Lord, she turns it outward upon her leaders. Israel hasn’t learned to pray like the prophet Habakkuk:
How long, LORD, must I call for help
and You do not listen
or cry out to You about violence
and You do not save? (Habakkuk 1:2).
Because Israel hasn’t learned to pray through hardship like Habakkuk, she also hasn’t learned to praise through hardship like Habakkuk.
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there is no fruit on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though the flocks disappear from the pen
and there are no herds in the stalls,
yet I will celebrate in the LORD;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
The LORD my Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like those of a deer
and enables me to walk on mountain heights! (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
What a prayer! Though the crops fail, the food supply dries up, and the grocery shelves are empty. Though my pantry is bare, my stomach growls, and all my livelihood is gone. Though my wallet is empty, and my job is lost, yet—even so—I will celebrate in the Lord, the God of my salvation who makes my steps sure, even in rocky places.
Because Israel in her time of hunger hadn’t learned to lift her hurt heavenward, she turned it outward. What about us? As we submit to the sanctifying leadership of God—even through wilderness wanderings—where do we take our hurt and fear? Are we spewing it outward, or lifting our eyes to the heavens from which comes our help (Psalm 121:1)?
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