Ex 16:2+3, And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." 
	We are currently in our consideration of the attitude of humanity as represented by the Children of Israel after their release from slavery in Egypt. We find them wandering in the wilderness as the Lord God was trying to work in their hearts and minds a setting aside of their cravings and their yearnings for Egypt. They were rather to be fully and joyfully satisfied with God’s continual provision. The Lord never failed to supply the every need of these wanderers. Yet, at every turn, at each seeming obstacle, they forgot God and chose to moan and complain and to be disgruntled. They refused to remember the awesome power of God on their side and continually muttered and grumbled and groused over and over again that it would have been better if they had just died in Egypt than experience the release from their captivity. They ceaselessly recounted how wonderful were the meager rations of their imaginations rather than rejoicing in the bounty of the Lord’s gracious and merciful supply.
	This brings us to the warning of Moses to the people as he was reminding them of the graciousness of God. This was in preparation for them to truly become the Nation of God to whom God was revealing His Law and His governing principles. Please open in your Bibles to Deut 8:1-10. Deut 8:1-10, "All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. 
	This passage gives the very reason that the Israelites, and we, are often lead by God through the wilderness regions…And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. 
	We learn to utterly rely upon Him as we go through all those times of trial and peril and hunger and thirst, yet never to the point of annihilation. It is to the point of death, death to self, but never to the point of destruction. God always proves Himself over and over and over again until we are fully satisfied with His every provision so that we no longer crave or desire anything of this realm as our source and supply of happiness and satisfaction. We are so tried and guided and fed by the Lord that we begin to grasp the senselessness of grumbling and complaining. We learn to just relax and count on Him to give us the very best of His Heart’s supply to meet each day’s trials and needs.    
Moses further instructed those Israelites as to their rebellious nature to the Lord in Deut 9:1-7. Deut 9:1-7. "Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said,' Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' "Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,' but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. "Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 
	Moses warned the children of that generation which died away during those forty years in the wilderness of all the wickedness that they had done in the sight of the Almighty Lord God Who had delivered them from Egypt. This was the posterity of those who had known the slavery and had walked the path of the wilderness for those forty years. They were witness to the grumbling and the anxiety and the complaining and the rebellion and the faithlessness and the fear and the hardness of heart which had caused that prior generation to lose their inheritance in the Promised Land. It would be the succeeding generation that would inherit the land, led by Joshua in accordance with the prophetic utterances of Moses in this detailed accounting of why everything had proceeded as it had. 
Moses was determined to let this people know exactly why the Lord had lead them on the path that they had trod, around and around in the wilderness for those 40 years. It wasn’t that they were lost. It was because they continued to grumble and to complain and to cry out for Egypt rather than for the land of Promise…Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. "Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.
	 As we read later in this same chapter, this people, this obstinate and stubborn and complaining and rebellious people had come to the very brink of destruction, if not for the witness of the glory of God as attested to by Moses. It was for the sake of the Lord’s testimony and His Name that they were saved. Deut 9:22-29. Deut 9:22-29. "Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you. "So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I did because the Lord had said He would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, and said, 'O Lord God, do not destroy Thy people, even Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, whom Thou hast brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 'Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. 'Otherwise the land from which Thou didst bring us may say, "Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness." 'Yet they are Thy people, even Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast brought out by Thy great power and Thine outstretched arm.' 
	As the Lord deals with His people, it will always be for His glory and His testimony revealed in His faithful fulfillment of all that He has promised to us in Jesus Christ. As with the Israelites of old, the nations of the world witnessed that, despite that people’s lack of faith, and complaining, and rebellion, and murmuring, God brought them through the wilderness, as a nation. He faithfully and fully gave them the land promised to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob. 
Moses’ heart was not only expressed for the salvation of the people, but more importantly, he brought to the forefront the faithful witness of the Lord God Almighty. This was despite the treacherous behavior of those whom God led forth from their captivity. Everything is always centered and focused in the manifested glory of God in the dealings that take place with those whom He has chosen unto Himself. He is the source and the reason and the merciful saving grace by Whom we are gathered together and delivered from our sin and iniquity and death. Thank Him heartily and resoundingly that nothing is, in any measure, dependent upon our actions, or our worthiness, or our earning so great and awesome a salvation. It is all of, by, and ordained in Jesus Christ, from before even eternity was put into place! Amen! 
Such an inherent attitude of ingratitude and dissatisfaction in the very face of the working and mighty hand of God to so save His people, was evidenced throughout the history of God’s people. The Psalmist was faced with the very same attitude of grumbling and complaining and forgetfulness that was evidenced in the wilderness. Many generations after the Exodus, there was still working, within the hearts of those redeemed people, the discontentment and deliberate inattentiveness to the bounty of the Lord. The Psalmist had to remind the nation of what had been so true before and what must never be forgotten. 
Please follow along as we read together Ps 78:11-25. Ps 78:11-25, And they forgot His deeds, And His miracles that He had shown them. He wrought wonders before their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; And He made the waters stand up like a heap. Then He led them with the cloud by day, And all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams also from the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire. Then they spoke against God; They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? "Behold, He struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?" Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath, And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also mounted against Israel; Because they did not believe in God, And did not trust in His salvation. Yet He commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven; And He rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven. Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. 
	We must ever and always be so thankful to God for His every provision in our lives. As with the Israelites, He supplies our every need with the best of the best from the storehouses of heaven. Yet He commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven; And He rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven. Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. Amen!
This is the course of our daily walk as we sojourn on the earth. This is not our home! It is our wilderness wandering as we are being prepared to inherit the Promised Land of our eternity. We get those glimpses of the Lord’s glory in evidence as we daily seek Him to be our every source of food and water and health and sustenance in every sense. Mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, there is no area of our lives in which He is not actively working to make us His people! We are blessed beyond all recognition by the power of His own right Hand in operation through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our Savior! Therefore, let us set aside all the grumbling and the complaining and the rebellion that seems to be so natural, and rather let us give Him full thanksgiving for Who He is and what He has done and continues to do each and every day! So be it!
And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Titus 3:4-7. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Amen.