HOW difficult it is for man really to trust God. When a sinner is awakened by the Holy Spirit to feel the burden of his sins, how slow is he to put his trust in God, to take God’s word as He has spoken it, and to rest every hope for eternity on that word alone! Without faith it is impossible to please God. All the works, effort, prayers, and tears of a sinner seeking salvation are unavailing to procure the blessing; the grace comes from God alone, and is a free gift, and until we believe God we fail to discover that all He says is true. When a man becomes a believer, how hard it is really to trust God day by day. Many who rest their all on God’s word, who are believers indeed, are very unbelieving in regard to the things of everyday life, and in no way does this unbelief express itself more distinctly than in a murmuring spirit.
Israel had been but a few days free from Egyptian slavery before they began to murmur. God led them out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, and His wonderful work of salvation filled them with songs of deliverance; they triumphed over their enemies, who had sunk as lead in the mighty waters, and they rejoiced in the Lord whose right arm had gotten the victory. But God’s plan of leading His people home was not to take them there in a moment, but to bring them through difficulties, through the wilderness, and thus to teach them to trust in Himself. God taught Israel as He teaches His people now, by testing them in hardship and in ease, in the waterless waste and in the sheltered groves.
There is a remarkable passage in Ex. 16, to which we do well to give heed: “Come near before the Lord: for He hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” (verses 9 and 10). They looked toward the wilderness! ―toward the scene of their wanderings and murmurings―toward the barren places whither God would lead them―and there they saw the glory of Jehovah in the cloud! He was about to magnify His Name in the wilderness. He had gotten Him glory in the land of Egypt by delivering His people from their bonds, and in the Red Sea, where He had looked through the cloud, and where He had destroyed the enemy; and now, as His people were about to enter the wilderness, His glory appeared in the cloud which should guide them on their journey home.
God’s people who know He has saved them can see His glory in the cross, and in the resurrection of His Son, and it is well to turn our eyes toward the wilderness and to behold His glory in leading us home. The safe conduct of God’s people to heaven, their protection and their discipline on the way, all proclaim God’s glory. He magnifies Himself in caring for the least and the weakest of His own. “The whole congregation” looked toward the wilderness, and beheld the glory of God in the cloud. It was for all to see— for the little child as well as for Moses. Well indeed it is for the pilgrim to heaven to turn his eye toward the wilderness, and to consider the glory of God in relation to the journey home. And what a word follows upon the sight Israel witnessed. The Lord said, “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, ‘At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”
“And it came to pass that at even the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning the manna fell.” The resources of God are infinite. He who had made them, called up the flocks of birds in their multitudes for Israel’s food, and He gave them bread from heaven to eat! They had flesh in abundance for their evening meal, and in the morning there began a constant supply of daily food in the manna. The Lord put the two foods side by side in His words, but we hear no more of the quails being sent again until about a year afterward, when once more Israel murmured. And this time they murmured against the manna, and cried out for the flesh and food of Egypt.
Then “He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by His power He brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea; and He let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. So they did eat and were well filled: for He gave them their own desire.” (Psa. 78:26-2926He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. 27He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 28And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 29So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; (Psalm 78:26‑29).) The quails were sent, and the gift showed the strength of God’s hand and the greatness of His resources; but the gift came to Israel in judgment, and they ate till they were stricken with sickness, and till they fell under God’s plague.
God at times answers a murmurer’s prayer by giving him what he desires. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” A most solemn answer to prayer is this, and a warning to the willful believer who murmurs against God and is not subject to His word.