In the Wilderness

Moses led the children of Israel away from Pharaoh, so they no longer had to be  slaves. They escaped into a wilderness and were probably feeling pretty fine, if not totally amazed and exhausted.

Freedom at last. But, they didn’t have the attention to recognize the opportunities at hand. They were impatient, bored, and had big expectations. The expectations however veered from their initial intent to worship God, and therefore became unreasonable. Unmet. So, they complained. And, they blamed Moses.  (Exodus 16)

I think, it is impossible to maintain a human status-quo. Try as people may, no human condition remains the same. And, instead of complaining or blaming, it is better to get through the wilderness experience by dis-attaching more fully from the human status-quo.

Moses was geared up to learn more about God. The people however were more interested in food and water; not a move atypical to human beings. So Moses prayed for God to provide manna from the sky and water from the rock. God provided.

Surely these miracles impressed the children of Israel, but not for long, because they kept complaining and then, when Moses was up in the Mountain, they constructed a golden calf to worship.

I catch myself complaining and I ask myself: Are my expectations reasonable or unreasonable? Am I trying to bring the past into the future? Am I worshiping a material object, human person, or mortal way of life? Am I worshiping a delusive mortal picture? Am I pretending to be following a great leader yet destroying or working against their every forward movement? How can I stop complaining or blaming, because it makes me look ridiculous?

I think I’ll take a look at Caleb and Joshua next.

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Tagged: be happy, complaining to God, moses the leader