Grumbling Through Life

It's the journey getting there that's the difficult part sometimes, right? It's the difficulty of this life that is sometimes Incredibly troublesome and that's what we're looking at as we make our way through the book of Exodus looking at the life of Moses But this morning I want to begin somewhere else in First Corinthians 10 you don't need to turn there. I just mentioned a couple of verses. I love history I've always loved history ever since high school ever since some is one to use Who ran her classroom with military discipline, but also instilled in us a Love for history and that's where it kind of got ignited in my heart I guess and I've had a lot of other wonderful history teachers through the years I'll never forget Mr. Bill Thompson teaching me at history of Western Civ Piedmont Bible College and then Dr. Robert Delanay teaching church history there and other professors I've had but the best history professor I've ever had was in my doctoral program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School when I got into the class of Dr. John Woodbridge an amazing scholar the chair of the church history department there in that amazing seminary But a guy whose lecture and teaches all over the world in fact He he teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris the most outstanding University in Paris He teaches in French at the Sorbonne. He teaches 16th century French history to Frenchman in French in Paris and I'm thinking I don't understand this kind of intellect He had an amazing mind, but one of the most Godly and humble men I've ever known never saw him bring a note to class I took him in two different modules and the module runs Monday through Friday 8 to 5 So 8 hours of teaching he never looked at a note it just poured out of him and it was like watching a dramatic film You're on the edge of your seat history was gripping when you heard John Woodbridge tell history But you know I subscribe also to the statement that you're often here about history and it's this the one thing that we learn from history Is that we never learn anything from history And I think that's probably true at least it seems to be true in our experience It's true in our personal experience isn't it think of the think of the things you were struggling with 10 15 20 years ago And you're still struggling with today you haven't learned from history you haven't learned from your own Experience I think all of us are to some degree that way God wants us to learn from the history of Moses and the Israelites In fact Amazingly God has told us in the New Testament Exactly why he pinned the words we're gonna look at today in the book of Exodus He refers to them in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 just listen to these verses For Paul says where I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact brothers and sisters that our ancestors were all under the cloud Speaking of the pillar of cloud by day and that they all passed through the sea Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them their bodies were scattered in the wilderness now These things occurred as examples to us to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did And do not grumble Paul says to the Corinthians and do not grumble as some of them did and Were killed by the destroying angel these things happened to them as Examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the culmination of the ages has come So if you think you are standing firm be careful that you don't fall So Paul tells us specifically the very things we're going to see in Exodus 15 16 and 17 were written For us they were examples for us God wanted us to learn from the history of history These are this is not just dry and dusty history. These are lessons from history In fact, I almost entitled this message history lessons But then I thought if you saw that in the bulletin there we would have our own Exodus from the auditorium You wouldn't stay for the service. So I gave it a little twist Grumbling through life because that's what this history lesson is about the sin of grumbling and complaining In chapter 15 of the book of Exodus we find that Israel has just seen the mighty hand of God They have just been miraculously delivered Through the red sea from the Egyptian army They have seen God's amazing power. They have seen him display his power in incredible ways And they have seen the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night and God's direct Leading them into the wilderness and so once they cross the red sea they burst forth in joyful singing They're praised to God for his deliverance the first 21 verses of chapter 15 Tell us that that's their song. We're not going to take the time to read that but it's worth reading sometime Just to see the exuberant joy and spontaneous worship that they express to God as they saw him Lead them through the red sea and then they come to verse 22 or we come to verse 22 They come to the wilderness look at verse 22 Then Moses led Israel from the red sea and they went into the desert of sure for three days They traveled in the desert without finding water So they've had this glorious experience of seeing God's amazing power in parting the red sea destroying the Egyptian army they sing spontaneously their praise to God and then they hit the wilderness again And they go three days and don't find any water in the wilderness So the joy the worship the excitement didn't last very long they hit reality very quickly We'll show you what their reality was like first of all look at this map Let me show you a map of the Exodus at least one of the possible routes of the Exodus You see if you follow this red line they were in the Eastern North Eastern section of Egypt and Here's the red line they come east but God does not lead them straight to Canaan Remember we saw that last week he said there are are very powerful Philistine armies right through here There were also Egyptian fortifications through there and so he decided that's not the way to take them But he has other reasons for taking them on a long route To the land of Canaan they actually start by going south This is at least one idea of where they cross the red sea this spur the Gulf of Suez from the red sea Crossing here going down through places that we will read the names of today Maura Elam wilderness of sin and Refidim on their way to Mount Sinai So God is leading them through this what seems to be a circuitous route to get to Canaan why take this long way the scenic route if you can call it that because here's what they would be seeing look at this picture This is the wilderness of sin or the wilderness of sin It is wilderness. It's just barren desert. You can see a few little scrub brushes along the way But not much out there except for wilderness sand a few rolling Mounds and they would get into as they got closer to Mount Sinai some real Some real mountains, but that's what they're traveling through So it'll give you some perspective on Maybe why they would grumble So their joy their excitement doesn't last long before they hit the realities of this of the wilderness and that is so much like us We come to know Jesus as our Savior and immediately we are flushed with joy because we know our sins have been forgiven And we're promised a home in heaven and God's judgment is behind us and we have everything good to look forward to and then the reality of life kicks us in the teeth And all of a sudden that joy and that passion and that exuberance Leaves us as we hit the realities of hardship And we wonder why couldn't God just take them directly to Canaan and why when God saved us Couldn't he take us directly to heaven or at least some kind of heaven on earth some kind of Place here where there are no problems and all of life is joy and peace and excitement and blessing Why can't that happen God has a reason for the wilderness We're gonna see it today God has purposes for the wilderness There are things he wants to teach Israel and my friend like it or not and typically we don't God has lessons to teach us from our wilderness experiences from our hardships and difficulties in fact God tests us Through the wilderness he tests us to develop spiritual muscle Strength of faith and Character God is testing us through the wilderness. He will tell Israel that as they started into the wilderness I'm testing you and he's testing us. He's testing us to develop in us to grow in us some spiritual muscle some strength of faith some character but Like Israel we have a tendency to grumble and Complain about the wilderness about the difficulties of it about the hardships of it. We simply Don't learn from history Paul said This history was written as an example so that we don't fall into the same trap. We don't learn from it very well I don't So let's find out what this is all about what's going on in the wilderness first of all We are quickly introduced at the end of chapter 15 to a cycle of life This is not Disney's not the circle of life. This is a cycle of life. There is a cycle of things that happen That are typical in Israel's experience throughout their wilderness journeys and I believe at least I find the struggle in my life are typical in our lives as well Here's the cycle it begins first of all with blessing That's in the first 21 verses where they're singing their praise to God for delivering them through the Red Sea great blessing rejoicing over God's deliverance Insolvation and when we get saved and no Jesus is our savior There's tremendous joy and blessing in our lives and we experience that throughout the Christian life from time to time where there's just such Blessing that we are filled with joy, but then the second phase of this cycle is hardship and we saw it in verse 22 Where they traveled in the desert without finding water for three days So after this incredible joy they face hardship they're now in the desert they're in the wilderness three days no water That part of the cycle that phase is often followed by Disappointment because look what happens next in verse 23 When they came to Mara they could not drink its water because it was bitter That is why the place is called Mara which he reword for bitter So they do find some water. Oh great, but you can't drink it. It's bitter It's not any good to drink so disappointment We think our hardship is going away. We think our problems are all gonna be solved and when they aren't when they don't then we're disappointed and That's when stage number four kicks in and that is grumbling Verse 24 so the people grumbled against Moses saying what are we to drink? This is beginning to sound familiar blessing hardship Think we're coming out of it disappointment. So grumble complain and Then the fifth stage is God's gracious provision the verse 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a piece of wood He threw it into the water and the water became fit to drink They're the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test Now you see God is saying okay. Here's what's going on? I'm gonna give you some instruction Here's a rule of mine and it's it's in place to test you So he's telling them up front The purpose for what you've just been through these three days and what you will go through in the wilderness is to test you now Here's the ruling here's the commandment the instruction and here's the test it's all in verse 26 He said if you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes If you pay attention to his commands and keep all his degrees I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians for I am the Lord who heals you So God gives him this promise But there's a test along with it. They must follow him keep his commandments do what he tells them to do and God will bless them God will not allow any of the diseases the Egyptians have had to come on them He's telling them I will protect you through the wilderness. They don't have any clue yet that it's gonna be 40 years But the Bible tells us that God protected them so well that their shoes didn't even wear out They're closed and even wear out for 40 years Can you imagine wearing the same thing and 40 years you're wearing now? Some of you can you are but you know, can you imagine that? Sorry But God God tested them but allowed them to go through this because of his promise So verse 27 then they came to Elam where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees and they can't near there Near the water so God does bring them to a place where there's an abundance of water abundance of water he know he knew what he was doing He knew that three days journey without water would test them pretty severely But he knew he was taking them right to abundant water. God knows what he's doing But this cycle is something that we repeat over over again They will throughout the wilderness journeys and we have a tendency to do the same We repeat this over and over and over again God blesses us We're grateful for that we rejoice in that and then along comes a hardship and we begin to get sour and when it looks like we're coming out of it But it doesn't happen and we're disappointed we grumble and then God graciously Provides and blessings again and the whole thing starts over again and we're rejoicing again We're happy again. We're joyful and full of peace and everything's going great and then another hardship comes along and We start through the same thing. We don't seem to learn from history We just don't seem to get it A new arrival in heaven is walking down Main Street and notice a suggestion box and Thought that's kind of strange for heaven a suggestion box And so he found a long time resident of heaven and said hey, what's with the suggestion box? I thought everybody in heaven is happy. Why would you need a suggestion box in heaven? And the long-term residents said well, you know some people just can't be happy unless they're complaining about something Maybe that describes you You can't really be happy unless you're complaining about something we go through that cycle over and over and over again So I'm gonna dedicate the rest of this message to us grumblers And we're going to see in this text of scripture in the next two chapters that God puts Israel through three distinct separate tests He just told him he's gonna test them You're gonna put them through three distinct tests in Every one of them they grumble they don't learn from the first one as they go to the second one as they go through the second one They've not learned from that one as they go through the third and every one of them they grumble sounds a lot like me Maybe it sounds a lot like you So hopefully we can learn something. Let's look at the grumbling of Israel chapter 16 and 17 the first test is the test of time It has to do with time look at chapter 16 verse 1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elam. That's where there was plenty of water They set out from Elam and came to the desert of sin which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt now I'm just kind of hang on to that time reference verse 2 in the desert the whole community grumble against Moses and Aaron These were like 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 Grumbling The interesting thing about it is the time reference if you compare that to the time reference back in chapter 12 and 13 when they left Egypt They've been out in the wilderness now or on this journey for a little over a month somewhere between 30 and 45 days They've been on this journey and a lot of them are probably thinking why is it taken so long to get to Canaan? Does Moses know where we're going? We didn't think it would take this long. This is enough time 45 days. Maybe it's enough time to get to Canaan We should have been there already the timing of things is the problem. Why did you bring us out here anyway? And and when things don't work out in the timing that we think it Should we start to grumble and just like them we start to look back to the past They look back to their days in Egypt and you know what they remembered about the days in Egypt We used to sit around pot full of meat and we had all the food we wanted Wait a second is that all you can remember about Egypt? What about the slavery? What about the Egyptian task masters? What about their whips that tore your backs open? What about making your own bricks? What about what about building cities for the Egypt? You don't remember any of that or you can remember as the big pot of food and the jet plane to eat But that's the way our memories work, right? When we are not content with our present circumstances we tend to look back on the past with a warm fuzzy glow And all we see about the past is the good old days Somebody has said if you want the good old days then cut the air conditioning off You'll you'll remember what the good old days were pretty quick But our memory tends to focus only on those warm and rosy good things about our past truth is You wish you could have it like you did 10 years ago 20 years ago. Well back then you were grumbling about stuff, right? Wishing that it could be like it was 20 years before that when you were also grumbling about what you would like to have Had 20 years before that You see we just go through this cycle over and over and over again And what God is dealing with them about is can you trust me with the timing of things? Can you trust me with the timing of getting you to Canaan? Yes, it's been 30 45 days. Yes, you think you should be there by now I have a reason for stretching this out some can we trust him with the timing? In his book your church is too safe Mark Buchanan writes about one of his favorite TV sitcoms of Bob Newhart show I've never seen the Bob Newhart show, but what I understand from his book is that Bob Newhart was a psychologist in the program and In his particular episode a lady comes to Bob Newhart for her first visit to Psychologists and he begins by explaining how he builds his patience he builds them Five dollars for the first five minutes and then nothing after that and she's elated that sounds like pretty need arrangement And he assures her this session will not take more than five minutes So he asks her to start She explains that she fears being buried alive in a box He asks her to say a little bit more So she says you know this fear extends to other things too like being in tunnels and being in elevators and being closed up in a house Around a car anything that feels like is boxing me in so he says basically you're telling me you're claustrophobic, right? She says yes, that's right. That's exactly what I'm saying. So that exchange takes about two minutes And so he takes about another 15 seconds to kind of empathize with her and how difficult this must be She says oh yeah, it's just horrible all right. All right, Bob says I'm gonna give you two words that I think will clear up everything Just take these two words and integrate them into your daily life and you will be fine Really you mean that oh yeah, yeah, that you'll be fine You want me to write these words down? She said well you can if you want to but most people don't have any trouble remembering these two words Okay, okay, she says and she leans forward ready to receive these words. Are you ready? He says yes? I'm ready So he leans forward across the desk and Says stop it That's it You know, I think sometimes God looks down from heaven at our constant grumbling and complaining about this and that and the other and I am convinced that God is saying stop it Just stop it We already have enough history of what God has done for others like Israel What is recorded in his word what we know of him from our own experience that we shouldn't have to be learning this over and over and over and over again Friend if what you're longing for is the good old days dreaming about the past wishing you had it as good as you used to Because of your troubles right now you are denying the reality of God's power and God's hand and God's purpose in your life right now We need to start seeing the tests of life that God gives us as steps to maturity as steps to develop a greater confidence and trust in him and break that cycle Of being joyful when God's blessing us, but then when we had a hardship and we're disappointed We start grumbling and complaining again and God Comes through and blesses and works and provides and then we're happy again for a little off until the next hardship comes and we start all over At some point we just got to stop that cycle and Start asking God to work in us what he wanted to do in Israel They never seemed to learn either, but he told us I'm writing this down for you to learn it as an example for you I have reasons for those tests I'm trying to do something in your life Now look to me let me do it listen to me hear me out the test of time But then they moved right to another test it was the test of hunger In chapter 16 verses 4 through 36 They have the test of hunger It's obvious in verse 3 that what they're struggling with is thinking about those pots of food in Egypt and they're getting hungry So God does answer in verses 4 and 5 look at it verse 4 then the Lord said to Moses I will rain down bread from heaven for you the people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day In this way I will notice I will test them and See whether they will follow my instructions On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in and That is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days you see God does provide he says I'm going to give you a Bread from heaven and later on we'll see is also to give them quail at night, but I'm going to give you bread But along with that provision I've got a couple of tests To help you to continue to grow in your obedience to me one test is you gather enough for that day And and you don't try to save it for the next day If you read the whole chapter you find out that he told them don't save any of them next day I'll give you enough for that day. Well of course some of them didn't do that They saved it for the next day thought we don't have to go out tomorrow We got enough for tomorrow. Well it was moldy and wormy and and spoiled it didn't work They didn't do what God told them The second test was on the sixth day they're together twice as much so that they'll have enough not only for the sixth day But also for the seventh because the seventh day is the Sabbath they're to rest They're not to go out and get any bread on that they got a provider enough for them for both days Well some of them didn't listen didn't do what God said they went out on the seventh day expecting to find more There wasn't anything there Because they didn't obey God so God is testing them even through his provision for them But look if you will at verse six So Moses and Aaron said to all that Israelites in the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your grumbling notice against him Who are we that you should grumble against us? Moses also said you will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread You want in the morning because he has heard your grumbling Against him who are we you are not grumbling against us but against the Lord So he reminds them Moses does that you're not really grumbling against me and against Aaron You're grumbling against God God is the one that led you out here Remember the pillar of cloud pillar of fire God's the one that led you out here God is the one that is leading you step by step as to where you should go when you should stop How far you should go in a day he's in control of this so when you grumble you're really grumbling against him That's something good to remember isn't it You know it's true in our lives when I grumble about the traffic on the way home today I'm really grumbling against God's providence in my life putting me in the position where I am for that particular time Maybe God wants me to learn some patience maybe he wants me to pray for the person in front of me Maybe they need a lot of prayer Maybe God wants me to learn something else or to be spared from something that might Happened to me further down the road. I who knows but Can I trust God with that rather than grumbling? When we grumble about the line at the department store when we grumble about the neighbor that's Contankerous when we grumble about what's happening in our family when we grumble because things didn't go to suit us We're really grumbling against God We gripe and and and snip and bark about our daily situations were grumbling against God It's it's on record one lady actually wrote her congressman with this complaint That extra hour of daylight savings time is burning up my yard Really? We will find anything to grumble about To complain about and really it's grumbling against God Skip down to verse 13 if you will First 13 says that evening quail came and covered the camp and in the morning There was a layer of dew around the camp when the dew was gone thin flakes like frost The first frosted flakes right here on the ground appeared on the desert floor when the Israelites saw it They said to each other what is it? For they did not know what it was what is it is the Hebrew mana That's the way you say it manna and so they named it that mana. What is it? What does this Moses said to them? It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat so God Providentially gives them mana bread from heaven Psalm 78 calls it angel food So you got the first angel food cake too right here in the desert and And the Bible tells us later on that they fixed it many different ways It was it was of the the nature and the consistency and the taste you could fix it a lot of different ways And so it wasn't like you just go picking up and eat it And that's all you get to do with it and the day after day that same thing they fixed it a lot of different ways I'm sure they had mana burgers and mana bagels and and I'm convinced this is where mana caught he came from that Didn't come from Italy. I'm sure But you know what they eventually started complaining about this too God's provision the perfect food from heaven and they complained about that too Later on in the wilderness one rings look at these verses Numbers 11 5 and 6 We remember the fish we agent Egypt at no cost also the cucumbers melons leaks onions and garlic a great Food but bad breath right but now we have lost our appetite. We never see anything but this mana God provides Still complain Like us right we gripe because we don't get what we want then when we get it wouldn't quite the variety we want it Wouldn't quite the shape wouldn't quite the color wouldn't quite Whatever We want more variety won't different. We want something else. This is getting old We're just like the Israelites Gryping complaining the test of hunger But then there's the test of thirst in chapter 17 for seven verses Verse one the whole Israelite community set out from the desert of sin traveling from place to place as the Lord Commanded they camped at refidine because but there was no water for the people to drink so listen to this So they quarreled with Moses ah this is ratcheting it up a little bit This is not just complaining and griping this is quarreling. This is threatening this is readiness to fight Moses this is this is gone up a step They quarreled with Moses and said give us water to drink Moses replied Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test? But the people were thirsty for water there and they grumbled against Moses They said why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make our chill us and our children and life stock die of thirst And Moses recognizes how threatening this is and how dangerous this is look over four Then Moses cried out to the Lord what am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me He realizes this is this is gone beyond just your average murmuring and complaining and grumbling This is outright strife. This is we're gonna get you Moses We're out for you and Moses recognizes it cries out to God and in verse five the Lord answered Moses go out in front of the people Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go I will stand there before you by the rocket horum strike the rock And water will come out of it for the people to drink So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel and he called the place Massah Which means testing and Meribah which means quarreling because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying and Here's the root of the problem is the Lord among us or not Now they put their finger on their own problem. This is the real essence of grumbling It is a verbal denial of the presence of God Is God among us or not and they're saying that with clenched teeth and clenched fists? In their minds the evidence of their hardship or the the hardship is evidence to them that God is not among them And so if they don't have waters got among us or what come on show us the among us We only think he's among us if he's blessing us But God has already said I'm gonna test you and I have as much purpose in the testing as I do in the blessing The test of thirst really gets to the bottom of what they're struggling with and that is Do I really trust God is he real? Can I trust him will I believe he will do what he says is he among us or not? That's the real issue whenever we grumble that really is the issue spiritually we're struggling with Is God really among us or not? It's God really with me or not is he real or not? That's really the issue my friend Now we don't often ask the question as honestly as this real did But we need to ask ourselves that question it might wake us up a little bit might shock us to realize that what we're really saying when we grumble is Is the Lord really here or not? Is the Lord even here or not? The test of thirst Well, what can we learn from their tests quickly? I think there are three lessons we can learn number one life is full of hardship Now that may sound pessimistic it may sound cynical. It's not my intent. It's just realistic life is full of hardship We're about a guy who is sitting in a restaurant sitting at the bar with a glass of iced tea and He's just sitting there looking at his iced tea and and For half hour he's just sitting there just brooding watching just looking at his glass tea a rough guy a guy You can tell is live the hard life walks in walks over to him grabs the glass of tea and drinks it all down And at this the man sitting there starts crying And the rough guy kind of Huffs a little bit says I don't cry. I'll buy another glass of tea I want to I want to upset you that bad and the guy said it's not the tea. That's not the problem This has been the worst day of my life I overslept Went into work late my boss fired me. He was so angry So I walk out to the parking lot to get in my car my car has been stolen So I get a taxi and the taxi is gonna take me home when I get home and get out of the taxi I realize I left my wallet with all my credit cards every everything in the in the taxi and he's gone I don't I don't even remember what company I called So I go in the house. I explain all this to my wife and she throws me out So I'm sitting here just trying to figure out Do I really want to just end it all and take my life and then you come along and Drink the glass of tea. I just poured the arson again. I Had the most terrible day of my life Life is full of hardship friends. It is full of trouble Israel's life in the desert would be testing It's hot. It's dry. There's not much water. There's not much food At least initially There's no immediate Transparent reason for them why they can't just get on with it and get the Takenin same as true in our experience Job said this in Job 14 mortals born of woman are a few days and Full of trouble. He knew what that was like And it's an accurate statement Jesus said much the same thing in John 16 Jesus said I told you these things after he's warned them about all the hardship they're gonna go through in the upper room I've warned you about these things so that in me you may have peace in this world You will have trouble but take heart. I've overcome the world. Yes in Christ We have an overcoming presence. We can have peace But he warned us in this world. You will have trouble my friend listen You cannot expect life to be perfect. You cannot expect life to have all of your problems Vanished God has not promised to shield you from the hardships of life He has promised to go with you through them to enable you to overcome them to find peace in the midst of them To give you strength and to help you to grow But he has never promised he's gonna remove the hardships He has a wonderful plan to use them in your life, but not to remove them from your life. So stop stop dreaming of that perfect future The perfect day you so want to have the perfect week you're looking forward to the perfect life the perfect family the perfect spouse the perfect children the perfect job Life is not that way. That's just realistic. There are hardships in life There are gonna be struggles in marriage. They're gonna be difficulties with your children They're gonna be problems with your elderly parents They're gonna be problems at work. They're gonna be difficulties with your neighbor They're gonna be hardships in life. God has never promised us to be exempt from those They're gonna be financial stresses. They're gonna be physical hardships at times Paul Harvey used to say in times like these. It's good to remember. There's always been times like these He was right Life is full of hardship take life as it is and let God use it as it is to Transform you to be more like him boy. I need to hear that. I need to hear that as well Life is full of hardships secondly second lesson we can learn learn from the past that God is faithful Israel should have done that For crying out loud it's just been a few days since they saw the red sea Park and God lead them through they've been watching him move a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire They saw the ten plagues in Egypt to deliver them they have seen God's hand and power in miraculous ways But it seems within a few days they've forgotten all that And we wonder how could that happen unless we take a good hard look at our lives We don't learn very well from the way God has blessed us and worked and provided and met needs in the past either We should learn because of seeing him work and what we know of him from his word God is faithful. He will deliver. He will provide. He will bring good through the hardship and through the difficulty Listen to wilderness is God's classroom. It's a difficult one. Yes, but it is his classroom of testing and teaching us So that we learn lessons we could never learn otherwise So when God is working in the wilderness We should look back on our experience to remember what he has done and trust him To enable us again as we grow older we ought to be seeing that more we ought to be wiser in our perspective stronger in our faith more patient when we're tested I'm getting older I'm older than I used to be all of us I guess are we I Should have learned by now whenever you go through a test Look at what God did last year and five years ago and ten years ago and thirty years ago look the way God has brought you and blessed and worked and provided Yes, sometimes it was hard, but you learn some things through that you never would have learned other things like I would learn that by now Israel didn't I don't tend to I expect maybe you're in the same position I am Learn from the past that God is faithful and Then third third lesson is this look for God's hand in life's difficulties Look for God's hand. I'm talking about specifically looking for ways that God is at work through difficulties Read an interesting article from the New York Times about some Executives at the airport in Houston that we're trying to figure out how to deal with the complaints about waiting for baggage to show up But the at the baggage carousel and so they were trying everything they were trying to move arrival Gates closer to the baggage that didn't seem to work because people got there quicker, but they still had the way They tried hiring more baggage handlers that didn't help because although people were getting there in fact they Actually got to an industry best of only an eight minute wait from the time you You got off your jet to the time you got your bag, but still lots of complaints So finally they contact this professor at MIT Who is an expert at Waiting in lines I don't know how you've become an expert of something like that, but this professor at MIT evidently made a career of studying cues and had a wait in line and what he had found was it is not The wait that is the problem it is having nothing to do while you're waiting that is the problem and So those folks in Houston decided, oh, okay, okay So if we move the terminals further away from the baggage carousel Then they will be walking doing something for a good bit of that time once they get there Maybe they only have a minute or so to wait for their baggage and it worked Complaints went almost zero You know most theme parks have learned this business learned that You don't just wait in a line there you you have televisions showing you things given you instructions or Areas for the kids can kind of do hands-on activities as you wait to get to the the attraction You see it's not the waiting that's the problem It is having nothing to do while we're waiting And it is not waiting in the wilderness. It is not waiting in the difficulty of your life That's the problem. It's that helpless feeling of what do I do so could I give you some suggestions? Of what to do while you're waiting how to look for God's hand in Life's difficulties ask yourself these kinds of questions What is God doing through this difficulty? How can I see him at work through what's happening right now? What can I learn about him in this difficulty? How do I believe he wants to use this experience to help me serve him better? What can I learn from this that I can use to help others in Their times of difficulty What can I see here that will help me to grow closer to the Lord? What can I find to rejoice in about this? I've just given you five six seven questions You can occupy yourself with while you're waiting something to do while you're waiting, right? look for God's hand in the testing so rather than complaining Discipline yourself spiritually to start asking those kind of questions What can I find that God wants to teach me go through those kinds of questions and occupy yourself with issues of spiritual growth While you're waiting through the difficulty It's all about perspective isn't it you can go through the rest of your life Complaining because Rose bushes have thorns Or you can accept the fact that Thorn bushes have roses It's all how you choose to approach it If I were to ask you this morning what is the greatest speech ever delivered by a public figure? Probably a good many of you would respond and are thinking right now of the Gettysburg address Only 272 words only two minutes to read through it Do they still teach it in school? Okay, some of you are nodding. I remember having to learn it in middle school It's a great speech So simple and yet so profound and it has come over time to be recognized as maybe the greatest speech ever delivered by a public figure By President Lincoln Not everybody saw it that way when it was delivered On the 150th anniversary back in 2013 there were several articles written about it one in the New York Times Which described some of the other newspapers who reported on Lincoln's speech when it happened the Harrisburg Patriot remember Gettysburg is fairly close to Harrisburg the Harrisburg Patriot derided Lincoln's address by referring to his and I quote silly remarks By the way, they since have retracted their criticism Given a little bit of history the New York world accused Lincoln of and I quote gross ignorance or willful mist statement when he used the expression forescore in seven years ago The Chicago Times In Lincoln's home state wrote this about the speech the cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly Flat and dish watery utterances of the man who had to who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the president of the United States Oh The times of London commented this the ceremony at Gettysburg was rendered ludicrous by some of the salaries of that poor President Lincoln Scaling The unciation for what we now to consider to be the greatest speech of all time It just goes to show you Will complain about anything And people will gripe and crumble a grumble about everything So we have a choice to make today and I would suggest this Stop grumbling stop it I'm saying that to myself Stop it, John Instead learn the lessons from Israel's history Learn That life is full hardship God never promised me it was going to be easy He did promise to go with me so I know he's faithful and I need to look for his hand In this hardship What I need to do