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His Glory in the Desert
Scripture abounds with illustrations of God’s faithfulness. Yet there are times when we fail to remember His goodness in our lives. Every Christian should stop along life’s weary road and look back at the path through which God has led him. When this happens, he will see the joy of victory, the challenge of the climb, and the presence of his traveling Companion—Jesus Christ.
In Exodus 16 the Bible recounts the story of the children of Israel being led through the wilderness. By now they have already witnessed the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day to guide them. They had already seen the parting of the Red Sea and the water from the rock at Marah. Time and again God had shown Himself in a mighty way to the children of Israel. Yet, along the way they seemed to doubt God. Along the way they seemed to question and murmur. What is it about our human nature that we can see the birth of a child, yet wonder how God is going to take care of our needs? What is it about our human nature when we can see twenty or thirty great miracles in our lifetime, and then somehow question God’s faithfulness? I believe that God wants us to look at the past blessings to know that He has some future blessings in store. It is during the driest times in our life that God wants us to experience His glory in the desert.
I. The People’s Complaint
The Bible tells us in Exodus 16:2–3, “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt…”
Have you ever been around someone who always has a complaint? Is there anyone you are hesitant to ask, “How are you doing?” You will find that as a rule, those who complain about how the ball bounces are usually the ones who dropped it. It is some people’s very nature to complain. And so it was with the children of Israel. They were complaining. Why were they complaining? For the same reason that tempts most Christians to complain—they were looking at their present situation. They saw only the difficulties. They had been traveling for a month and a half since they left Egypt. They were perhaps impatient with the Lord’s leading. They were hungry, and people can get grouchy when they lack sleep and food.
Not only did they complain about their present circumstances, but they complained about their present location. In Exodus 16:1 the Bible says that “…all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin….” This was a desolate, barren region—a place where dry winds from the south and east would increase the heat. By June, temperatures would range from the 90’s to low 100’s.
Sometimes if we are not careful, we will not stop to thank God for the blessings of the past, the provisions in the present, or the promises of tomorrow. They were focusing only on the moment. Have you ever had a day like that? You wake up, you are saved, you are sanctified, you have the Bible in your hand, you have a family that loves you, you have a church family that supports you, you have food to eat, you have a place to work, and yet, as you are driving down the road you have a flat tire and all you can do is complain? We complain about the weather, about our job, or where we live. The problem is not the weather or our job or where we live; it is our attitude.
Over the years I have learned that nearly every place in this world has something really nice about it and some things not so nice about it. I have learned that what makes a place special is the heart of the man or woman who lives in that place. When the heart is not right, all someone can see are the problems.
The Bible says in Exodus 16:3, “And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full….” What is it about our memory that only remembers how good it used to be? We often look back and remember only the positive things about our lives before we were saved. We think that life was really good, yet now that we are saved, we have trials and problems.
The Israelites were guilty of the same mistake. They began to think back to Egypt and remember the refreshment of the Nile River and abundance of food. They forgot about how they were slaves who cried unto God for deliverance. The Bible warns us of such behavior in Philippians 2:13–16, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”
Be careful about wandering in the wilderness of discouragement. The devil capitalizes on our moment of weakness. If you are serving in a church where souls are being saved and baptized—thank God for such a place! The Bible says in Philippians 2:13–14, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings.”
The reasons for the Israelite’s complaint was that they thought only of their present situation. The revelation of their complaint is found in Exodus 16:2, “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” They complained against God’s servants, yet the real complaint was against God. They questioned God’s goodness and wisdom. These are the same doubts Satan tries to put into our mind.
“If God is so good, then why did He let me lose my home, my job, my health?” people often ask. Though we may not fully understand the answer to these questions, the Bible does give us insight in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” This verse does not tell us that all things are good. It simply tells us that all things can work for our good. God is able to take the bad things that happen in our life, and orchestrate them so that they will work for good. During this process we are drawn closer to God, and we learn of His awesome power and dominion over the works of the devil, thus strengthening our walk with Him. It is not God that we should blame. We ought to thank God for the air we breathe, for the checks we cash, for the church where we serve. The Bible reminds us of this in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
