Exodus 14:11-12

Hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?

The foolish way in which many people anticipate difficulties

I. That many people meet anticipated difficulties in a spirit of great fear.

II. That many people meet anticipated difficulty in a spirit of complaint against those who have generously aided them in their enterprise. It is base to turn upon men who have spent their best energy and wisdom in our service when trouble seems to threaten, But this is the way of the world, a momentary cloud will eclipse a lifetime of heroic work.

III. That many people meet anticipated difficulties in a spirit which degrades previous events of a glorious character. Lessons:

1. That when trials threaten we should trust in God.

2. That fear weakens men in the hour of trial.

3. That it is ungenerous to murmur against those who earnestly seek our good. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

An unreasonable complaint

During one of the campaigns in the American Civil War, when the winter weather was very severe, some of Stonewall Jackson’s men, having crawled out in the morning from their snow-laden blankets half frozen, began to curse him as the cause of their sufferings. He lay close by under a tree, also snowed up, and heard all this; but, without noticing it, presently crawled out too, and, shaking off the snow, made some jocular remark to the nearest men, who had no idea he had ridden up in the night and lain down amongst them! The incident ran through the army in a few hours, and reconciled his followers to all the hardships of the expedition, and fully re-established his popularity.