Exodus 14:11-12 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
The approaching army caused fear, which led the people to cry out to God, but then their response was to complain: Why? Why, God, did you do this bad thing to us? They complained to Moses, but essentially they complained to God. They blamed Moses, but essentially they blamed God. They had been saved from servitude to evil, but they wanted to go back to the world. Serving the Egyptians was better, for at least they could live and not die.
We have been saved from the Evil World, but when ”bad things happen to good people” our first response is to ask ”Why?” We may genuinely want to know what good reason God has for allowing this present trouble to happen, but the Lord won’t explain it to us yet. As it turned out, the reason for allowing Pharaoh’s army to come close was to drown the Evil Army in the waters that saved the people (like in Baptism). It also turns out that the innocent, bitter, sufferings and death of the Son of God is the defeat of Sin and victory for us. We might genuinely ask, ”Why did Jesus die? He was a good man,” The Bible gives the answer.
However, what lies underneath the ”why” question, the complaining, and the blaming, is pride and unbelief. The natural response of pride claims that it’s not my fault, I don’t deserve this, and so we blame. The natural response of unbelief cannot fully trust God that He knows what He’s doing and will do it right, and so we complain. “Why (wherefore)” accuses God of not being good or of not being God. It all goes back to original sin: why did God forbid the Tree?