Grumbling in the Desert

I am in an airBnB in Shinjuku, Tokyo right now. It's quite compact (a polite way of saying tiny!). I share the space with some other members of my family and they are still sleeping. So I am painting in the bathroom...

standing up beside the small sink. 

"Here in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled..." 

Exodus 16:2

God showed His great power to save the whole Israelite community by parting the Red Sea and showing His glory, and yet the people grumbled!!! I suppose after all that magnificent display of domination, the Jews were expecting more of the same. Food in abundance, no more hard work, the easy life. 

Unmet expectations. I was just reading yesterday about how unmet expectations are the reason marriages end in divorce. I can imagine how men and women can come to believe that after getting married everything would be hunky-dory. Love stories end when the couple gets married or at least come to an agreement to get into a relationship. Convoluted strands in telenovelas show bickering couples somehow ending up in harmony with alls well ending well. 

I remember when I was newly married I had such a huge problem with my husband NOT putting down the toilet seat. I come from a family of 4 girls and one boy and the seat was always down. My husband was part of a lay organization of single men who were serving in Christian communities. And they ALWAYS kept the seat up! So there I was, dismayed all the time, irritated and grumbling without my husband knowing what I was so grumpy about. The thing is 

except for that teeny tiny flaw, my husband is the sweetest, most loving and kind hearted man. If he notices anything I need help with, he would find ways to solve it. BUT there I was focusing on his NOT putting the toilet seat down and being ungrateful. I finally told him about my problem a year after we got married, and the problem was solved. 

The Israelites grumbled and God gave them manna in the morning and a feast of quail at night. Lord, sorry for the many times I grumble and am ungrateful. Please forgive me for not seeing how good, generous and faithful You are to me every single day!