What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Exodus 16:1-9

¹They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. ²And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” ⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” ⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”

A recurring activity throughout the wilderness wanderings of the Children of Israel is grumbling. They don’t have food, they don’t have water, they fear their enemies; no matter what is happening to them, instead of taking their problems directly to the Lord, they just simply complain and rise up against Moses. But – we cannot be too hard on them because their story is our story. We are the same way. Despite the amazing things that God does for us we regularly look at Him and ask “what have You done for me lately?”

This fickle attitude is simply wrong but it seems to be inbred. And I would suggest to you that if you can’t look back over the very recent past and see the hand of God at work in your life, you aren’t paying attention. Sometimes we tend to become negative and stop seeing just what He does for us every single day. We look around and say “God isn’t active in my life” or “God doesn’t speak to me” or “God doesn’t really care about me.” I would suggest that in those moments we are not looking past the end of our own nose.

Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it? And I confess, it is. I can speak that way because I know it happens in my own life. I become myopic and can’t (or perhaps a better word is won’t) see God moving in my life. I stop reading His Word with regularity or praying faithfully. Maybe I stop meeting with His people and submitting to some accountability. All of these things lead to a spirit that grumbles before the Lord and asks “what have You done for me lately.” In truth, God is constantly attentive to my needs and He never withholds what is necessary for my life.

The Children of Israel are simply products of the human condition and they begin to complain a month into their time in the Sinai about the food supply. Granted, they are in a desert situation and food is probably not readily available. But to immediately claim that their lives were better under slavery is simply ridiculous. They probably also romanticized those “meat pots” just a little. Life as slaves was miserable; especially after Pharaoh demanded they find all of their own straw for the making of those bricks. Somehow, they seemed to have forgotten that pain and even blame Moses rather than God for their apparent lack of food. I guess for me, it is alarming how quickly we can go from shouting God’s praise for taking care of us to grumbling and complaining.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We have minds that can remember what God has done and celebrate past victories with regularity. Last night I watched as God relieved me of teaching 4-7 year olds and gave the class to two people who are stunningly qualified to do so. I had my own little moment of praise and adoration for a God who loves me enough to gift me in such an unexpected way. As those children moved through the building quietly and respectfully I celebrated the fact that while they would not do that for me, they seemed quite happy to do so for these two gifted teachers. Those little moments are worth celebration! God does stuff for us all the time. We never have to complain to get Him to act. He does so out of love, not obligation. He sent Jesus out of His perfect love for us, not because of the complaints or grumbling of the people. He took care of us before we even knew we had the need.

Romans 5:6

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly . . .

Lord Jesus, please forgive me for those times I would rather complain than pray. Forgive my grumbling spirit and place in me a spirit of thanksgiving and recognition of Your love instead. Help me to see the millions of small things that You do for me every moment of every day and when the big things come along, please help me to let the world know how incredibly great You are. In Your name I pray. Amen.