Lesson 15: Complain Much??

Last week's lesson had the Israelites complaining they couldn't drink the water, there was no food, then there wasn't any water at all. Each time, the Lord miraculously provided for their needs.

This week, they complain because all they have to eat is manna.

"...Who shall give us flesh to eat?

"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; and the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:

"But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes" (Exodus 11:4-6).

Oh, the injustice of it all! You sure have it tough all right. Nothing but the miraculous daily manifestation of the Lord's loving providence. I guess we all have our burdens to bear.

The Lord tells Moses that he will provide meat for the people, so much that it will "come out at [their] nostrils, and it be loathsome unto [them]..." (Exodus 11:20). Sometimes I think the most fitting punishments the Lord gives us are the things we want, rather than the things we need.

Moses apparently falls into the same trap we sometimes do. How often do we expect the Lord to operate within our limited view and perspective? It's as if we are saying, "If I don't understand it, it must not be possible."

Moses reminds the Lord that there are 600,000 men in the camp (just in case He forgot...) and wonders how God can provide enough for everyone as promised. Will they kill all the flocks and herds for food? Will they need to go fishing?

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not" (Exodus 11:23).

The camp of Israel is soon covered in quails two cubits deep (about three feet) and extending a day's journey all around the camp. If you're keeping track at home, that's a lot of quail. Verse 32 says the smallest catch was ten homers (turns out, nothing to do with the Simpson's). I was a little rusty on my metric-to-homer conversion, so I had to look it up. That's roughly 65 US bushels, or 2.3 cubic meters. Imagine a container 1m long x 1m wide and 2.3 meters tall, filled with quails, and that was from the guy with the smallest catch. It's no wonder they were stricken with a plague while they were still chewing (see Exodus 11:33-34).

You'd think that would be enough to convince the people. Sadly, no. Moses, following the direction of the Lord, appoints one leader from each tribe to scout out the promised land. When they returned, they brought with them the fruits of the land, along with a very disturbing report of the strength of the inhabitants.

"We be not able to go up against the people," they cried, "for they are stronger than we" (Exodus 13:31) and we look like grasshoppers compared to them (verse 33). The people get so upset, they appoint a new leader who will lead them back to Egypt (see Exodus 14:4, Nehemiah 9:17).

There are (at least) two problems with that solution. First, how do you think the Egyptians will react? "Hey, we missed you guys, nice to have you back!" Highly unlikely after all the Egyptian first-born sons died and the army was drowned in the Red Sea. They probably won't be breaking out the milk and cookies for you.

Second, I don't recall the position of prophet being up for debate or public vote. Bad things happen when you try to go around the Lord's chosen prophet.

Wilford Woodruff once said, "... the very moment that men in this kingdom attempt to run ahead or cross the path of their leaders, ...they are in danger of being injured by the wolves ... I have never in my life known it to fail" (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 5:83).

Israel just couldn't get it through their collective heads that God really was with them, despite all the signs and wonders. But then again, how do we react when things get tough? Do we put our faith in God and step forward, even if we don't know how He is going to "prepare a way for [us] that [we] may accomplish the thing which he commandeth [us]" (1 Nephi 3:7)? Or do we complain because things are too hard? So what if the inhabitants of the land are huge? The Lord's hand is not "waxed short". As Caleb and Joshua pleaded, "...the Lord is with us: fear them not" (Numbers 14:9).

Lesson 14: Water, Bread, and Short Memories

I know, this isn't much good after we've already had the lesson, but it has been a busy week. I missed last week all-together, so I figure this is better than nothing.

The lesson covered Exodus 15-20, 32-34, but we only got through chapters 15-18 in class. There are a couple of recurring themes in these chapters. One, the Israelites sure liked to murmur, a lot. Two, everything points to Christ as the Savior and Deliverer. The beauty of symbolism is that it will mean different things to different people. I'll just share a few things which stood out to me and let you draw your own conclusions.

Moses and the Israelites get to Marah, and the water is bitter, so the people start to murmur. Moses prays and was shown a tree which, when cast into the water, would make it sweet. Moses then put the children of Israel under a covenant to keep the Lord's commandments.

This brought to mind a couple of things. First, when we take the sacrament, we renew our covenant to keep the Lord's commandments. Second, without the effects of the atonement (can't help but think of the cross when the tree is mentioned), the Gospel would be bitter. We would be unable to return to our Father, so there would be no sweetness in the Gospel.

Israel travels further and murmurs about not having anything to eat. They cry out "Would to God we had died ... in Egypt, ... when we did eat bread to the full..." (Exodus 16:3). In other words, 'God can't provide for us as well as the Egyptians could.'

God provided Israel with manna, to "prove them, whether they will walk in [God's] law, or no" (Exodus 16:4).

It turns out that many of the Israelites couldn't handle the complex rules around the gathering of manna. Let's review:
-Don't store it overnight (Exodus 16:19). When they did, the manna was spoiled and had worms.
-Gather twice as much on day six because there won't be any on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:22). Sure enough, people are wandering around on the Sabbath, looking for manna.

I start to point my finger at the Israelites, wondering why they just couldn't grasp the little things. Why can't they go two minutes without complaining about something. Then I think about my own life and how often I don't seem to be able to handle the simple instructions:
-Daily prayer and scripture study. How many promises have we been given if we will spend a little time each day in prayer and study? Good grief, if this isn't one of the hardest habits to develop. I can read books for hours at a time, but can't seem to make a habit of reading the scriptures daily.
-You can't live today on yesterday's spiritual experiences. Without nourishment, yesterday's testimony gets weak and may spoil.

How can I make sure I don't fall into the murmur mire like the Israelites did? One of the best ways seems to be the scriptural admonition to "always remember":
-Christ (sacrament prayers, found in Doctrine & Covenants 20:77, 79)
-the greatness of God, His goodness and long-suffering towards us (Mosiah 4:11)
-the captivity of our fathers and their deliverance at God's hand. (Alma 29:12)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said that "those with the shortest memories have the longest lists of demands" (Neal A. Maxwell, "'Murmur Not'," Ensign, Nov 1989, 82). This was especially true with the Israelites. They were soon out of water again, and murmuring against Moses, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" (Exodus 17:7).

Something clicked for me while I was teaching the lesson this afternoon. These same people who complained to Moses would have risen in the morning, gone out of their tents and gathered their omer of manna. They would have to know that this stuff doesn't grow naturally in the desert. It hadn't been that long since the Lord first provided them with manna, maybe a couple of weeks? A month? They have food provided for them miraculously on a daily basis, and they start complaining as soon as they get thirsty.

Moses smote the rock with his staff as instructed by the Lord, and water came out. I thought of the Roman soldiers breaking the legs of the thieves on the cross, then piercing the side of Christ's (the Rock of Israel) lifeless body to make sure he was dead, and water came out.

It's so easy to look down on the Israelites, but I hope when things get tough my first instinct will be to look to God rather than murmur and complain. It's going to be a bit of an uphill climb, because sometimes I'm pretty quick to complain...