I find it a strange, disconcerting image: the people of
God quarreling with the Lord. In the Christian cultures
I know—liberal, conservative, and in-between—we don’t
argue with God. We’d rather complain about one another.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, divine complaint is an
honored tradition. Job famously challenges God. Prophets
try to resist the divine plan when God taps them for service.
In this Exodus passage, the whole group raises its voice
against God’s management of the precarious desert sojourn.
We modern Christians reluctantly aim harsh words at
God or question divine arrangement. In the Old Testament,
an argument with God suggests a real relationship. Anger
assumes communication and emotional connection. It presumes
a ground rule of engagement: The Judge will hear
the bill of resentment and will respond and make answer,
if not amends.
I have a few complaints myself for the divine in-box.
Why do we seem to be wired for tribal, limited loyalties
rather than for universal love? Why the terrible maldistribution
of riches and disasters and suffering and luck (and
water) across the world? We are awash in mystery.
I read this passage again. I stand amazed that a
relationship with the Creator of the universe is possible at
all. In the ordeal of daily need in the boiling desert, this truth
is what the Israelites ultimately remembered. Frustration
with God gave way to a greater experience: the mercy of
God. It’s what they learned and remembered, which is why
we honor it even now.

By Ray Waddle from The Upper Room: 60 Days of Prayer for General Conference 2016