Why Grumble?

Numbers 12:13-15 (NKJV)
¹³ So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "Please heal her, O God, I pray!"

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again." ¹⁵ So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.

In chapters eleven and twelve of the Book of Numbers two events are depicted. The first is a complaint by the people concerning the quality of food that God provided them in the wilderness; the second is a complaint by Aaron and Miriam (Moses’ siblings) concerning their place in the community. They wanted to prophesy the same way Moses did. They had, in fact, received the word of God by way of visions and dreams. In contrast, Moses heard God directly.  

In the first case, God gives the people what they ask for, but he also punishes them for complaining. The people grew weary of Manna, they creatively prepared it in every variety they could but still it tasted the same. They wanted meat. God provides them with “quail” that would have been migrating from Africa. As they flew over the sea, God caused a wind to blow them over the Wilderness. The people gathered them as they hovered near the ground. As soon as they were eating the meat, God strikes them with a great plague.  

Why does God give the people what they demanded, in great abundance then strike them with an epidemic? He does this while the meat “is still in their teeth.” 

 

When Miriam and Aaron demand to hear God directly, as their brother did, God strikes Miriam with leprosy for seven days. 

Through all this, Moses remains genuine and humble. Moses show compassion for the people and pleads for mercy. God rewards Moses and ministers to him. God sees that the burden is too heavy for Moses, so he provides him with a cadre of sub-commanders.  

Here is my question. Has God changed how he deals with His people, the Church? God still delivers a people from the corruption of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Those, whom God delivers, still complain and demand more from God than God is prepared to give them. There are still leaders who want to have spiritual gifts God has given to others. There are many proud teachers and preachers who act like, as Luther once said, “Swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all.” There are still many of us who are disappointed with the place where God has placed us and the gifts God has given us. 

Is the wrath of God still kindled today against the discontent and the proud? How is it manifested?  

Disappointments that come not by our own fault, they are the trials or corrections of heaven; and it is our own fault if they prove not to our advantage. William Penn (1644–1718) 

Have some of your carefully created castles been washed away? Mine have. Several times along my life’s journey, I had nowhere to turn except into my heavenly Father’s arms. There I remained quiet, soaking up his love for as long as I needed. Then I saw his hand begin a new creation for my life, a new direction, a new service for him and his kingdom. Waves need not always destroy. We must allow our heavenly Father to use them to redirect our lives. Jean Otto 

If you expect perfection from people, your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumblings, and complaints. If, on the contrary, you pitch your expectations low, taking folks as the inefficient creatures which they are, you are frequently surprised by having them perform better than you had hoped. Bruce Fairfield Barton (1886–1967)