Difficult journeys sometimes bring out the worst in us. No one wants to be in the middle of taxing travel with no end in clear sight. At such times and in such places, our patience often crumbles into complaint. The children of Israel have reached just such a time and place in their journey. God has already delivered them from great harm; but now in this new part of the journey, they lose the sense of God’s presence and guidance. When our anxieties meet our exhaustion, we often cannot see the God who has always been with us, upholding us on the journey. Like the children of Israel, we give in to complaint.
Complaining can distort our reality, blinding us to the truth. The children of Israel tell themselves that God has abandoned them to die in the wilderness. But in fact, God is with them, leading and guiding them. God wants them to have faith in the divine guidance of their lives. They say they will die of thirst and starvation when, in fact, God daily supplies them with food and water. Their complaining clouds the facts of their blessings and leads them to see God’s gifts to them as a curse.
It is understandable that in harsh times we are tempted to complain. Yet when I complain, I declare that I no longer believe that God loves and cares for me. My complaint denies my experience and history with God. When we complain, we open ourselves to poisons that can harm us. Yet even when we allow our unbelief and complaining to poison us, God provides a way to deliver and heal. We, like the children of Israel, can confess our sin to God and confront the serpents of our complaint. Then we can look to the serpent of salvation and live.