Growin' Up Gregory

The Israelites, now free, still managed to find something to complain about to God, their hunger in the wilderness.  But God doing what He does, provided for them.  In Exodus 16:11-16, we see how God chooses to respond to these rather ungrateful people.  The Lord tells Moses, "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites.  Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full.  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God."  In the evening, quail came and covered the camp.  And in the morning, a layer of dew surrounded the camp.  When the dew evaporated, there was a fine flake-like thing on the ground.  When the Israelites saw it, they asked, "What is it?" because they didn't know what it was.  And Moses answered them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.  This is what the Lord has commanded - 'Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat.  You may take a cou...

How do you tend to respond to complainers?  Or when people complain about you, how do you tend to respond?  Are we quick to help someone who's complained about us, or not so much?  Let's be honest, no one likes a complainer.  And we have all have our limits of how much complaining we can take before we lose our patience (and most likely our temper) with someone complaining about us.  If you're like me and someone complains about how I do something, I have no problem simply not doing it at all and allowing them to handle it themselves.   Leading up to this story in Exodus 16, God has protected, provided for, and guided the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.  And yet somehow through all of that, they begin to complain.  Thankfully, God is not like us and He did not give up on His people.  He is patient, kind, and slow to anger (Psalm 145:8).  A month and half departed from Egypt, the Israelites find themselves between Elim and...