We grumble all the time, don’t we? Think about your life, and your lot in life, and you confess you want a lot more, don’t you? Or you want a lot less! That just depends on what you have and don’t have. Contentment is the exception to the way we live.

Face it. You grumble. You complain. You probably do it without realizing it. Plain and sinful, you are not content. Welcome to the club: The Grumble Group. It’s a big group. Plenty of people. A lot of sympathizers. But on second thought, is this a club you want to be in? Maybe. Some gain a perverted pleasure in being miserable. However, let’s assume you want to do something about it. Let’s get you out of the Grumble Group, so you can join another club: The Contentment Club. If you want to stay in the Grumble Group, you can stop reading now, because this piece shows you how to get out of that miserable mass.

The way forward is by looking back. As always, the way to remedy the ailments of the soul is to apply the salve for your soul: God’s very Word. Take a few minutes to read Exodus 16, since this will be our passage in view.

The Situation Summarized

In Exodus 16, Israel has recently been rescued from the hand of Egypt by the mighty arm of the Lord. Here are the players in the chapter: God, Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites. Two chapters before, the Lord cut the Red Sea in two for the safe passage of his people, then closed the watery wall on their pursuers. Enemy neutralized. In Exodus 15 we read the Song of Moses, for God had “triumphed gloriously!” (v. 1). Triumphed over whom? The Egyptians of course, but ultimately over the gods of the Egyptians. God assured Israel that through the plagues sent to Egypt, he would show who was God. In Exodus 12:12, he says, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.” The Lord God is victorious over all the false gods of the Egyptians, and he has shown himself to be the Deliverer of his people. His wonderful works called for songs of loudest praise!

But 45 days later (only a month and a half!), this song of deliverance turned into a lament of defeat, a dirge of discontentment (16:1). What happened? Israel was in the wilderness. They weren’t safe and sound in their new home. Additionally, they needed food and water. Just before our text in view, there’s a small case of the grumbles in 15:22-27. The Israelites were in the wilderness for three days without water. Admittedly, a significant position, and a hard spot to be in. No water means imminent death. So, they came to Marah which seemed to promise water, but the water was undrinkable. It was bitter. They grumble against Moses. Moses cries out to the Lord for help. The Lord helps and makes the bitter water sweet. That bitter water is a picture of their hearts in the next chapter. Sadly, at the end of Exodus 16, their hearts aren’t sweet but bitter and hardened.

The Israelites begin grumbling. What are they grumbling about? Two things: not being in Egypt, and the lack of meat (v. 3). Forgetting their 430-year-slavery, they wish to return to Egypt. At least Egypt had food. It would have been better to be enslaved and well-fed than free and foodless. I suppose that’s one way of looking at recent events. The wrong way, obviously. Near-sighted, of course.

But wait, there’s more, and it’s worse. They grumble against Moses and Aaron, their God-given mediator and high priest, respectively (v. 2). This is bad enough. God gives to his people gifts of men. But Israel was dissatisfied with this God-given leadership. This is bad enough, but the situation worsens when we read, “Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD” (vv. 7-8). Grumbling becomes judgment, and judgment not against men but against God their provider. This case of the grumbles becomes a case against the Judge of all the Earth! By complaining, they make a charge against the wisdom, power, grace, goodness, love, knowledge, and provision of God. Verse 3 says, “…for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” They do not view God as Life-Giver and Redeemer but Life-Killer and Oppressor! As far as they see it, they don’t have what they need, and God is to blame. Bitterness is justified. Complaints are warranted.

Coveting Clouds Contentment

The painful situation for Israel is that their expectations turned into accusations. Their covetous hearts clouded contentment. Their grumbles prevented joy. They had in mind a way that life out of Egypt had to be, and when this way of life needed to begin. Because their expectations and timeline were not met to their liking (nay, demand!), they complained against God’s servants and against God himself.

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