Sure Miss that Kosher Deli

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:3 NIV

sat on our bare family room floor surveying the boxes I had to unpack. I didn’t want to move back into this house. My heart was back in another state where I liked our church and had made several friends quickly. Tears poured down my cheeks as I felt betrayed by God. It’s like He gave me two bites of chocolate lava cake and then whisked it away from me. My tears turned into a tantrum. I liked the other town better and I just plain didn’t want to move again. The other town had better restaurants, a better church, and the neighbors were friendly. My husband had expanded our company and we relocated to another state. Things were humming along until September 11 happened. Like many Americans, we lost a lot of business; in fact our business was cut in half after that horrible national tragedy. We did a boomerang move, packing up and moving back up north to the house we weren’t able to sell before we left. Embarrassing? Yes. Necessary? Yes. The ancient Egyptians had a history of abusing the Israelites.


They used the Israelites as a slave race to construct bricks under the scorching Egyptian sun. When the Hebrew workers wouldn’t produce their daily quota of bricks, the Egyptian overseers would beat them. Moses observed the treatment of his fellow Hebrews and sought revenge by killing an Egyptian foreman. So when God provided countless plagues to allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt, you might think they would rejoice at their freedom. Instead they reminisced about the food, wishing God had just smote them back in the old country where they were a race of slaves. Whining is not new. People have been whining at God for centuries. We need to keep good attitudes when we move to an area we don’t particularly like. When I quit my crybaby attitude, God opened up new opportunities for friends and a new start-up church close by. He was just waiting for me to quit my bellyaching. Only God can see around the corner and He does what is best for you and me. Today, let’s give up our right to complain, giving God our annoyances and unfulfilled desires as a sacrificial offering.