Grumble

Numbers 14:2

 All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Read verse in New American Standard Bible

“Dad, when are we going to be there?” “Mom, I don’t want to wear that!” “Awwww…do I have to do it now?” “No way, broccoli again?” “Really? I have to be in that early? All the other kid’s are out till…”

These are the grumblings of virtually any kid in any home in the US. It may have even been you! I know it was me! Before we have a good idea about what life and reality are about, we selfishly ‘grumble’ when we don’t get what we want. As we mature, we should realize that we don’t always get our way, some things will not change and grumbling only makes us more miserable-not less. Not to mention it also makes the person you are grumbling about miserable too. And, they usually have the power.

In the book of Numbers the Israelite’s grumbled. They wanted to go back to Egypt! That seems amazing to me because they had a horrible life in Egypt as slaves to the Pharaoh. God brought them out of slavery, provided food and water, shelter and guidance, and they whine that they want to go back! Maybe a short term memory problem?

Since God uses the same patterns over and over on how He responds, (for our benefit, not His) is there something we should be learning from this? Is this a foreshadow of our current situation?

Let’s unpack this scene.

The people were taken captive as slaves in Egypt to pay for a food debt during the drought in Joseph’s time. After Joseph and that Pharaoh died, the Hebrews were taken advantage of by the Pharaohs that came after, that did not know Joseph. Finally God heard their cries and raised Moses up to rescue His people. However, when the sting of slavery wore off, the people began to grumble and they longed to go back to Egypt to the security of sameness.

Leap forward. We are in a crucial time in the USA. I am not a prolific historian but I do know that the people left England because they did not like the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ mentality that forced the Anglican religion on it’s ‘subjects.’ After becoming aware of the promises of God for all men written in the Bible, these brave people set out to establish a new nation, a nation based on God’s rules. Does any of this sound like Egypt to you?

By God’s grace, and His ‘pattern’ this new experiment in freedom was established 244 years ago. Not unlike the Hebrews, it had to be established with blood sweat and tears! Now we are facing the ‘forgetting’ moment of the Israelite’s. They forgot how hard their lives were under the tyranny of the Pharaoh. Oh, yes, they received food for free, shelter and they had jobs, but every choice was Pharaoh’s. There was no ownership, no changing jobs, no vacation and even their worship of God was squelched because they had to work all the time.

Our Founding Fathers felt the pain of the government always breathing on their necks. We have not. They knew the absurdity of even trying to fight against the ‘Crown’ for some sort of fairness. We still have the luxury, yes a luxury, in this country to decide as a people what our future will be. We call it ‘election’.

Soon we will be facing those voting booths. It’s just you and a paper with names, but an entire government system is at stake. Will you choose, like the Hebrews, to go back into the government of government rule? One where the power at the top gives the orders and you obey. Remember, the government that gives, also takes away. Or do you believe that God still has His hand on this nation? There is still a Remanent that is holding on to the hope. Like Joshua and Caleb who came back from Canaan with a good report, we still see and believe that there is time to REPENT and RETURN to “One Nation Under God.” Please, understand the magnitude of this ‘pattern’ God is using again to show us. “Where God guides, He provides” Trust His provision, not government. Study the candidates, Pray for God’s guidance, Vote your Values!