The Wilderness of Sin

Exo 16:2  And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

The children of Israel had finished the food they took with them when they left Egypt. They were now tired and hungry. They came to a place called the Wilderness of Sin. It was an appropriate name for here they sinned against God. They complained about their hunger. They put the blame on Moses: “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” (Exodus 16:3).

What an ungrateful people! They had forgotten they had cried to God for deliverance when they were in Egypt (Exodus 2:23). If life had been so good in Egypt, would they cry for deliverance? What is this hunger compared to the slavery in Egypt? Yet, instead of bearing the trial, and doing the best they could under the circumstances, they began to murmur and wish themselves dead. They accused Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt with the intention of killing them in this wilderness.

Was it Moses and Aaron's fault for the situation in which the Israelites found themselves? They had done nothing but obeyed God from first to last. They had forgotten how much Moses had to give up from being son of Pharaoh’s daughter to son of a slave just to be identified with them. They had forgotten how Moses and Aaron had led them out from the Egyptian bondage. Have you heard a word of thanks from them? None at all. But they were quick to blame their leaders when they met a little obstacle on the way.

Moses responded to their murmuring: “The LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD” (Exodus 16:8).

What are the implications for us?

1. God hears every complaint that is made against His servants.

2. Every complaint is towards God.

The Lord heareth your murmurings! We should always remember that God hears our murmuring made against a preacher, elder, church event organiser, and our brethren. How do you think God feels about it? Would He agree with your complaint against a preacher or an elder? Will He side with you? Do you know what happened when Aaron and Miriam complained about the leadership of Moses (Numbers 12:1-10)? Yes, God was angry (Numbers 12:9).

Every complaint is towards God! Preachers, elders, deacons, and all church workers are but God’s instruments. Murmuring against them is murmuring against God. Instead, we should take our grief straight to God. We should go to Him not with murmuring, but with prayer. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Yet, each time that trouble threatens, we murmur. Like Israel, we are in the Wilderness of Sin when we murmur. We forget all the good things that we have enjoyed but we wish that we had died before the trial came. We complain that the leaders shouldn’t have organised this event or they should have done it this way and not that way. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts” (Proverbs 21:2).

Let God’s faithful servants take courage; God will vindicate them. Let us be busy in the kingdom of God so that we have no time to murmur. When you are busy with the rest in working together, what occupies your mind is to get the work done the the best possible way; you won’t be living in the Wilderness of Sin. 

Are you living in the Wilderness of Sin?

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.