Perhaps like me, you’ve tried to visualize the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14. We would have loved to have been there and seen the towering corridor of congealed water that formed a pathway for the thousands of departing slaves. Think of how it felt, passing through a narrow canyon composed of cliffs of glistening waters held for miles by invisible dams. It was their God-given pathway to a new world and a new life.

God had been so faithful to His children. He had honored the promises He made to Abraham to give him a nation of descendants, too many people to count. He had sheltered these descendants for hundreds of years in Egypt, allowing them to grow in stamina and size. He had raised up Moses, sent plagues on the gods of Pharaoh, passed over them in mercy during the deaths of the firstborn, and now He was personally accompanying them to the land He had prepared for them. He was with them as a pillar of fire and of cloud.

That’s why we’re flummoxed when we turn the page and the children of Israel are complaining because the new ground they were exploring was uncomfortable and unfamiliar. Exodus 15:24 says, “And the people complained.”

It’s so easy for us to praise God one hour and complain the next! The Bible lists more than ten times when the children of Israel complained in the wilderness. Over and over they murmured, grumbled, and doubted. In the heat of the desert they even looked back with an ironic fondness on their centuries of slavery in Egypt, where at least they had garlic, melons, onions, cucumbers, and leeks (Numbers 11:5). The repetitious menu of manna, the constant pitching and striking their tents, the sand and wind and sun, and their unseen destination took its toll on their spirits. And their complaints rose up like a stench to heaven.

Uncomfortable Ground

Before we criticize them, we need to ask ourselves, “Have we complained about anything today?” When we follow Jesus Christ, our pathway sometimes covers uncomfortable ground. It can be physically uncomfortable, as anyone knows who has taken a mission trip to a primitive region or spent a sleepless night tending a sick patient. It can be emotionally uncomfortable, as we know when we try to rebuke, admonish, or correct a friend who is lapsing into a harmful habit. It can be spiritually uncomfortable because serving the Lord involves burdens and tears, not to mention satanic attacks.

Our modern world is built around comfort and convenience, and the least disruption of that causes us to complain like children. But whenever I’m tempted to avoid some hardship in God’s service, I read a few pages from the biographies of Christians from past generations who weren’t afraid of the burden of the work and the heat of the day.

The Scottish Reformer John Knox was preaching in St. Andrews castle when it was seized by the French in 1547. For nineteen months, he was enslaved at the oars of a galley ship, but he never lost his confidence in God. On one voyage, he looked through the cracks of the ship and saw the spires of St. Andrews. He told his companion, “I see the steeple of that place where God first opened my mouth in public to his glory; and I am fully persuaded, howsoever weak I now appear, that I shall not depart this life, till my tongue shall glorify his godly name in the same place.” His prediction came true, and Knox had many more years ahead of him in his stormy but successful ministry.

One of the most consistent teachings of Scripture is that moments of difficulty will come. Rather than grumbling, we should pray and push forward, trusting God to expand our souls. 

Peter, James, and John suffered frequent discomfort. And think of the apostle Paul’s beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and afflictions! The way of the cross isn’t always the most comfortable route through life. We may see others luxuriating in first class while we’re hanging onto the railings of the caboose. But we rejoice greatly in our salvation, knowing for a little while we may be grieved by various trials, which come to test the genuineness of our faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire. (See 1 Peter 1:3-7.)

If you’re in an uncomfortable place right now, there’s nothing wrong with trying to become more comfortable—as long as you stay in the center of God’s will. Sometimes we have to put up with discomfort in order to push forward. Never sacrifice service for comfort, and never let the solace of comfort keep you from the painstaking endeavors God wants to assign you. Trust Him with your discomforts and draw from His more-than-sufficient grace.

Unfamiliar Ground

The Israelites weren’t just on uncomfortable ground. It was also unfamiliar. The Lord’s people often travel an unfamiliar road. Remember Abraham? He went out by faith, “not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). In the days of Joshua when the new generation of Israelites crossed the Jordan River, the Lord told them, “You have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:4). Every step was on new land, for God had promised, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses” (Joshua 1:3).

As we follow Christ day by day and year by year, we’ll be challenged to go beyond what we know and where we’ve been. We’ll find new promises to claim and new ideas to try. New ground is not familiar ground, but don’t be timid. The Lord always has new days for us to live, new jobs for us to tackle, new lessons for us to learn, new challenges for us to face, and fresh progress for us to make.

When the great devotional writer Oswald Chambers was a young man, he moved back to Scotland to become an artist, but his plans came to nothing. He wrote a friend: “For three weeks now I have had no work—art, portrait painting…. I have not been able to pay my landlady for some time now.” But Chambers sensed God was preparing him for something beyond painting portraits. “I am not in the least disturbed about these hard times, night and day my soul is yearning and crying and my spirit waiting for a great absorbing work to come for me to engage in for His sake and it will come, and we will look up and be strong and of a good courage.”¹

I hope you have a sense that God has a work for you to do—one that will absorb your interest. It might be a new responsibility or a challenging opportunity. Don’t be dismayed by it. We shouldn’t be too disturbed when a few hard times come our way or when we’re asked to do something unfamiliar to us. Like Oswald Chambers, we must yearn and cry and wait for the plan God has for us. We must learn to be the student, not the teacher. We will need humility for God to lead us, and we must follow Him and engage in our tasks for His sake.

Is it possible our commitment to convenience and familiarity is greater than our commitment to Christ? That’s always a danger, especially in a world of ease and enjoyment. The fool in the Gospels told himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19). But he came to nothing.

Charles Stanley said, “Too many Christians have a commitment to convenience. They’ll stay faithful as long as it’s safe and doesn’t involve risk, rejection, or criticism.”

My friend, let’s not amble around halfheartedly when God wants us to forge ahead wholeheartedly. If discomfort or inconvenience comes, the Lord will uphold us. If we’re in unfamiliar territory, the Lord will shine a light on the pathway. Let’s never be afraid to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him in a forward direction.

Sources:

¹David McCasland, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God (Grand Rapids: MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1993), 58-59.