God told the Israelites that rather than making a beeline for the Promised Land they would need to spend years wandering in the wilderness. This was not what they wanted and not what they would have chosen, but it was his will. Because it was his will, he would sanction no grumbling about it. His will is never evil, it is never ultimately for the harm of those he loves, so it ought to have been easy for them to submit to it and even to rejoice in it. But if you’ve read Exodus, you know this is hardly the case.
We are in our own little coronavirus wilderness now, and trying to bear up better than the Israelites. Sometimes I’m not sure what counts as lament and what counts as grumbling. I don’t much like the world we have entered into, but I also don’t want to complain about it. I don’t want to grumble about our circumstances since I’m confident that they are within the scope of God’s will. He willed for this virus to hit at this time. He willed for us to spend weeks and maybe even months in various states of lockdown. He
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