“Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness . . . ?”  (Numbers 16:12)

Sometimes, slavery looks pretty good.

The Bible tells about how God freed the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt (Exodus through Deuteronomy).  And God’s plan was not simply to free Israel from something.  God was also planning to bring Israel to something: their own land, a land that is frequently portrayed as “flowing with milk and honey.”

However, like all of us, the Israelites had a problem: themselves.  They could be thankful for short bursts, but for long periods, they complained.  In fact, as has often been noted, the most popular outdoor sport of the Israelites during their journey from Egypt to Israel was complaining.

What did they complain about?  It would be easier to say what they didn’t complain about.  They complained about food—no food, the same food day after day, no meat.  They complained about water—or, rather, the lack of water.  They complained about the desert they were in.  They complained about the “fact” (??) that they were not able to conquer the land that God had given them.  (Their penalty for this complaint was that they were not able to conquer the land that God had given them.)  They complained about their leadership.

Now, before we go all smug and judgmental about this bunch of complaining Israelites, we should perhaps take a look in the mirror.  Let’s face the truth on this Monday morning: Complaining is an equal-opportunity employer.  We are all of us complainers.  Paul warns believers of this in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, referring to the stories of complaining (and other sins) Israel committed in the wilderness.  Paul also warns us that such complaining and other sins are common temptations that all people face (verse 13).  When someone asks me how I am, I sometimes reply, “Can’t complain!”  However, I can complain and sometimes I do.

So, in Numbers 16, some of the Israelites are complaining that Moses has not brought them into “a land flowing with milk and honey” (verse 13).  In fact, the complainers refer to Egypt as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (verse 12).

Say what!

Wasn’t Egypt where they were slaves?  Wasn’t Egypt where they felt the whip of the taskmasters?  Wasn’t Egypt where they had to throw their male babies into the Nile River to feed the crocodiles?  Wasn’t Egypt where they had cried out to God for deliverance from Egypt and all it stood for?

Well, yes.  But now that the Israelites were in the wilderness and not yet in their own land, Egypt looked pretty good.  Will Rodgers was a funny guy, but he wove a lot of truth into his humor too.  For example, he said, “We are always yapping about the ‘Good Old Days’ and how we look back and enjoy it, but I tell you there is a lot of hooey to it. There is a whole lot of all our past lives that wasn’t so hot.”

So, how about you and me?  How did you and I used to be enslaved?  How do we remember said slavery?  Perhaps we complain because the past seems better than our present.  (Notice the operative word in the preceding sentence: “seems.”)

However, maybe it’s the other way around.  Maybe past slavery seems better because we’re complaining.  Maybe if we practiced the fine art of gratitude right here and right now, we would discover a more realistic attitude toward our past, our future, and (most importantly) our present situation.