Exodus 17:2-3 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
Once again the saved people contended with God and complained, this time because they were thirsty and had no water in the desert. “Why did God save us from the world only to make our life miserable in the dry land of earth? We’re going to die!” And whose fault was that? Who brought death into the world?
We know that complaining is always negative and that it only brings us down, and those around us. What we don’t want to believe, however, is that complaining is the sin of unbelief. If we believe God is always good and He never fails us, then complaining challenges God and calls Him a liar. It stems from the unbelief that remains in the saved believer. Moses says murmuring tempts the Lord. Jesus responded to the devil’s temptation, ”Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” To tempt God is to insist that my will and my way is better.
In place of complaining we may respond to trials with prayer. Moses did that: he cried to the Lord. Then God brought abundant water out of the rock. When we turn to the Lord and turn complaints into prayers, He enters the scene and does something. Just as God became a human and died for us, so the Lord Jesus comes into our lives and grants the living water of eternal life. The NT says: ”And the Rock was Christ.” By faith we pray and assert, ”Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done.” It’s not my kingdom nor my will. Complaining brings death; prayer and faith brings life.
The desert of our earthly life is also waterless, and the world of sin cannot provide the refreshment the soul needs. Although the world will deceive us into thinking it can give what we need, it is empty and its power is actually destructive. Into our life’s desert God brings a well of water springing up to eternal life. We receive it with joy and thanks in place of sorrow and complaint.