Okay what it is today Lord, the washing machine breaking down, the freezer leaking, the car refusing to work, the kids being revolting, my husband worrying about those small insignificant things that don't really matter but his wittering drives me up the wall? What is it that you have in store for me today?
Sometimes it feels like God has saved up all those grievances for a winters day so that he can watch me run round in circles and bet on how long it will be before I explode.
Why does life sometimes feel like too much hard work to get out of bed?
Well I am consoled by the fact that for generations our ancestors have been lamenting too to God about just about everything. I am not the first and I will not be the last.
Exodus 16 Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.
“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”
Yep I can sympathize with that. Everything was okay in Egypt, they may have been slaves but at least they had something to eat! Now in the desert having been saved from a life of slavery they are hungry.
Did God ignore them because of their complaints and lack of thankfulness? No, he gave them food for 40 years. I don't know about you but when I tried to eat rice everyday for three months I grew sick of it. 40 years of the same thing?
Numbers 11:6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. Not sure I wouldn't have complained. Manna sandwiches, roast manna, boiled manna, grilled manna, pot manna, stir fry manna, manna cake, manna on toast, manna, manna with manna. This is beginning to sound like a Monthy Python sketch. I am no cook but I would like to see Fanny Craddock make something exciting and different each day with her one ingredient.
Numbers 11:10 Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Even Moses started to get fed up. Moses was also very aggravated. And Moses said to the Lord, "Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me!"
The Israelites like ourselves often don't see the bigger picture. They lived in the here and now just like us. When we are in the middle of a down spell, the thrill of being released from a situation is soon forgotten, and we start to complain. Those little niggles loom up again, and we cry to God. When I hear my children complain, I can hear myself saying, "Oh for crying out loud, what is it now?" I am consoled by the line and the Lord became extremely angry. I can definitely sympathize with His parental agony in this case.
For God our Father our moaning will continue till the day of Judgement. Thankfully my children will move out someday. I can only say thank God his patience is eternal.
