Grumble, Grumble, Toil and Trouble

TODAY'S READING: Ex. 14, 15, 16; Acts 2

SCRIPTURE: Ex. 16:1-8
¹ The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. ² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”

OBSERVATION: I can so relate to Moses! After being in pastoral ministry for 20+ years I understand the frustration of doing your best to give the people God's instructions and having them complain and grumble about you when they are actually mad at God. Yes, people do get mad at God. Many times when a leader is giving people God's truth and it is something they don't want to hear, they react against the leader with charges of being too controlling, spiritually abusive, legalistic and judgmental... the list of accusations is endless. What makes these accusations so hard to bear is that a they are so often completely false, yet it is almost impossible to combat them because then the leader comes off as defensive and insecure. Moses does defend himself by pointing out that they are really grumbling against God, not against him or Aaron. God vindicates Moses, but this will be a problem that crops up again and again, just as it does with leaders today. It is one of the biggest frustrations of ministry and one that makes a lot of pastors quit and do something else. Enduring constant complaint is a frustration that becomes almost unbearable and makes ministry leadership a rather thankless job.

APPLICATION: It is so easy to complain and find fault! It is one of the tools that the enemy uses to diminish the effectiveness of the church. Satan knows our natural, fleshly tendency toward this sin and exploits it to the max. We have to recognize this and control our attitudes and words. I am not now in pastoral ministry and I still have to remind myself not to engage in complaint and grumbling when I see the leadership of my church doing things in a way that I think is less effective than how we used to do it. Complaining does nothing to advance the kingdom of God.

PRAYER: Father, teach us to stop playing into Satan's hands by complaining and grumbling about our leaders! May we speak our minds in love to try to improve our churches, but if the decisions don't go as we would want them to, may we join in and function with others with an attitude of cooperation and gratitude. Let us make the task of our leaders easy by being a people that functions in grace. In Jesus' Name, Amen.