Why The Israelites Died in the Wilderness

“The Israelites said to them [Moses and Aaron], “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.

The Israelites had recently come out of Egypt, where they had been slaves to Pharaoh for 400 years. Now they were in the desert, making their trek to the glorious land of freedom and abundance God had promised them.

But they began to have an attitude problem when they didn’t arrive at their destination on their timetable.

In this passage, we can see that they were not thinking about, or speaking the whole truth about their situation. They were only considering the part that supported them in their anger and bitterness and self-pity. To read the passage and gain context click here.

What they were saying about the plentiful food supply in Egypt was true enough. But so was the fact that they were in cruel bondage there. And that they were mercilessly worked. And ruthlessly beaten. So much so that they cried out to the Lord for deliverance.

But they don’t mention any of this now. Now, they’re only telling themselves part of the truth. And this was their undoing. And this is why most of the Israelites died in the wilderness and never made it to their land of milk and honey.

Telling Ourselves the WHOLE Truth

When we are tempted to be angry or bitter or depressed or full of self- pity in our painful trial, we must tell ourselves the WHOLE truth about our situation.

The temptation is to think and speak only that part of the truth that will encourage us in our sin (anger, self-pity, bitterness etc.), while suppressing that part that would force us acknowledge God’s goodness.

This is why it’s so vital to give thanks and count our blessings in hard times. In painful trials, we need to continually keep the WHOLE truth before our minds. It’s important to make a conscious decision to do this.

Because if we don’t, we will become blinded to it. And we will dwell exclusively on the part of the truth that causes us to have a bad attitude.

I experienced extreme emotional pain as I was working through my childhood trauma as a young adult. During this time, I was tempted to be full of self -pity and anger and bitterness toward God. Actually, I was way beyond tempted. I was taking a bath in it and shaking my fist at God.

I still kept up my spiritual disciplines though, which made all the difference. One day, as I was reading 1 Thessalonians, this verse caught my attention: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

As angry as I was, I knew if I ever wanted to get out of the pit I was in, I had to be obedient.

The Discipline of Giving Thanks

So, the next day I began making an effort to give thanks for ten things a day. At first it was so difficult, and I could only think of one thing. And that was my young daughter.

I had sons too, but they caused me too much grief at the time to be grateful for them! As I persisted day after day, I eventually was able to come up with the requisite ten items a day.

After a while, to my astonishment, I even began to be truly thankful for the things that were causing me the most pain! I began to see that it was these things that were transforming me as I responded in faith and obedience.

This small act of obedience began to radically change my heart and attitude and eventually my life. After a while, my anger and bitterness melted away as I started to see my pain as a catalyst for positve change and an expression of God’s goodness.

A Bad Attitude Kept the Israelites in the Wilderness

We would do well to remember that the Israelites in the wilderness weren’t guilty of horrendous sins like murder or adultery. In fact, in many ways they were obedient. For example, they diligently picked up their tents and moved whenever the Lord told them to.

And this was sometimes after only a few days of camping in one spot.

The fact is, in the final analysis, it was nothing more than a bad attitude that kept the Children of Israel out of their promise land! A sobering reminder for those of us who are tempted to whine a little more than we should when life gets hard.

To read another post similar to Why the Israelites Died in the Wilderness, see Israel In the Wilderness: The Prerequisite or The Israelites in the Wilderness Refused Grace.

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