“Speaking against God”

“They spoke against God.  They said,

‘Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Behold, He smote the rock, that the waters gushed out,

and the streams overflowed.

Can He give bread also?  Can He provide meat for His people?’

Therefore, the LORD heard this, and was angry.”

Psalm 78:19–21a

Israel was traveling through the hot wilderness that lies between Egypt and the Promised Land, the land of Canaan.  They were hungry, and when they complained to Moses, Moses took their complaint to God, who then promised to provide them with more meat – there in that desolate wilderness! – than they would be able to eat.  That is when they “spoke against God”.

They spoke against God by saying, in effect, that He worked miracles in the past, but no longer did such things.  They remembered His miracle of providing water at Mount Sinai, but had no faith for today.

Have you ever heard people speak against God like that?  Have you ever heard people say that God spoke in tongues through the disciples, but He no longer does such things?  It does not glorify God to say He once did great things, but that He no longer does them.

It is very instructive to note that the Bible teaches that to say that God used to do miracles but that He no longer does them is to “speak against God”.