“The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled…” (Exodus 16:1-2)
Survivalists talk of the rough ‘Rule of 3’s’. As an averaged figure, in an emergency and with adrenalin flowing, a person can go 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. These figures vary vastly of course according to the fitness levels, weight and metabolism of each individual. For instance, most people in normal circumstances would struggle to hold their breath for one minute, let alone for three. In a desert setting (again dependent on heat levels, dehydrating winds and individual factors) water is the critical resource and the average person is unlikely to survive beyond 24 hours without it. And the biblical account is not about an individual but about perhaps 2 million people in the desert place. Their ‘grumbling’ about food and water actually seem quite reasonable!
In the desert place, the old brutalities and certainties of captivity seem in comparison very appealing. At least there was predictable if meagre food and shelter and water. Yet there are many times in the Bible when God’s people (even Jesus Himself) are led out into a desert place. It is always a place of challenge, of discovery, of refining, of testing, of discernment, and of faith development. And it is always the place where people encounter the God Who provides.
We won’t find ourselves in a literal desert in Scotland but we might find ourselves in a metaphorical desert: a place where familiar certainties, even if they were harsh, no longer hold; a place where our normal resources are depleted and our usual strategies no longer work; a place where we are isolated from our normal support structures; a place where the torment seems endless and the future bleak. It might be an illness, a bereavement, a redundancy, some unexpected change in circumstances. But we find ourselves in a desert place.
If that is so, then let’s grumble for a while. Scream and shout and swear and stamp our feet if it helps. Throw a hissy fit. Blame and complain. Then calm down and look for the God Who provides. The God Who is there – patiently waiting for us to reach out in faith.