When We Are Like the Israelites: Learning to Trust God Instead of Complaining

There are two groups of people in Scripture whose stories have always both confused and frustrated me. One of them is the Israelites in Moses’ time.

Even my 10-year-old daughter recognizes their struggle. I remember her reading the book of Exodus and saying, “Why are they always complaining?” 

And truly — it was Every. Single. Time.

How could a people who saw the Red Sea part…

who watched manna fall from heaven…

who witnessed the ten plagues…

Still find room to murmur?

It’s easy to shake our heads at them because we can see the whole story laid out in a few pages. But the real question is the one we avoid:

Are we like them?

We thank God when life flows smoothly — health is good, children are fine, job is stable — but the moment one thing breaks (your car won’t start, someone says something rude, an unexpected bill shows up), we declare it a terrible day.

When we shake our heads at Israel, we must ask the difficult question: Are we really that different? 

Do we, who have the life of God in us, turn miraculous deliverance into another reason to complain the moment reality jars our expectations?

I demonstrated this to my daughter one day when she had been complaining about different things for about an hour. It really was from one thing to the next- All I said to her was "you sound like the Israelites". She gasped in her dramatic fashion, but she did not complain for the rest of that day, and maybe even the week!

No one wants to be like the Israelites of that time, and yet we often act like them.

The root diagnosis

Scripture gives us an honest diagnosis: murmuring and complaining reveal where our hope actually sits. The book of Numbers repeatedly records Israel’s murmuring (see Numbers 11 — the people longed for the food of Egypt even after God provided manna).

Their complaint was not just discomfort; it was a symptom: they trusted comfort and familiarity more than the faithful character of God.

Contrast that with Hebrews 11 — the “hall of faith” — people who trusted God through unknowns and trials. The difference is not circumstances; it’s the posture of trust.

The truth is: Complaining is always a trust issue.

Complaining is often not primarily about circumstances. It’s about where your heart keeps its anchor.

Why Israel grumbled — a compassionate reading

Before we fully condemn them, consider their story sympathetically:

• They had been shaped by 400 years of slavery, oppression, and cultural assimilation.

• Fear and trauma skewed their ability to imagine a faithful future so they did not recognize what goodness looked like.

• The faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been weakened across generations.

• They had a limited vocabulary for God’s ways. They had seen little of covenantal faithfulness passed down as living memory.

• They had been crying out to a God they didn't know, with no obvious results.

• They had been taught to worship the Egyptian gods, whom they witnessed ‘prospering’ the Egyptians.

So when He finally delivered them, they didn’t know how to trust Him.

This is not to excuse their sin. It is to explain why trusting God was so hard.

For many of us, past pain, loss, or prolonged hardship has similarly narrowed our imagination of God’s goodness. And this is where many believers find themselves today. A lot of people who have experienced prolonged trauma find it hard to trust.

How trust grows — practical spiritual formation

To stop complaining, you don’t need more discipline — you need more trust.

Trust silences complaining. Knowing God quiets the murmuring heart.

To trust God, you must know Him.

The more you know Him, the more you realize: He has been faithful before, and He will be faithful again.

Trust is learned by repeated, reliable experience of God’s faithfulness. It is formed, not announced. Here are practices that form trust:

1. Spend time with God. Know God in His Word, in worship, in meditation, in fellowship.

2. Remember God’s acts.  Create a “faith ledger.” Journal 2–3 ways God has been faithful this year. Read it regularly.

3. Anchor in God’s promises — choose a promise (e.g., Psalm 23) and meditate on it until it sinks in. Let the Word rewrite your expectation.

4. Small obedience tests — trust grows when you obey in small things and see God’s provision.

5. Community testimony — hear others’ stories of God’s faithfulness; testimony widens the imagination of God’s goodness.

 Trust multiplies by time + memory + obedience + testimony.

Correction without shame

When you hear your heart murmur, don’t lead with condemnation — lead with this question: “What am I trusting?” A gentle, practical reorientation (remembrance; one act of obedience today) moves a complaining heart toward trust.

Reflection questions

• When have I most recently complained, and what was the underlying fear?

• Name three recent ways God has provided for you (big or small). How does remembering them change your posture today?

May we learn from Israel—not to criticize them, but to understand our own need to deepen trust in the One who is always faithful.

I love you,

Oyin.