Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord. The journey is only beginning and already the complaints start. They have food, but they're tired of it. They have direction from a cloud, but they're restless. They have been liberated from slavery, but their minds are already rewriting Egypt as better than it was. I recognize myself in those Israelites more than I'd like to admit. I'm grateful for my home until I've lived in it for six months. I'm grateful for my job until the initial excitement wears off. I'm grateful for my marriage until familiarity sets in. There's something in us that can't seem to hold gratitude stable. The good becomes ordinary. The miraculous becomes the new normal. And then we start thinking about what we don't have, what we've lost, what we're missing. The Lord's response is important: He hears the complaint. He doesn't pretend the restlessness doesn't exist. He addresses it. Sometimes what we need isn't silence about our discontent. We need someone to hear it and respond with the truth.
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