They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert? When He struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But can He also give us food? Can He supply meat for His people?”

When the LORD heard them, He was very angry…for they did not believe in God or trust in His deliverance.”

Can He? That was the question the grumbling, complaining Israelites had in the desert. Can God provide food? He’d provided water, but was He able to provide food?

God didn’t appreciate the question.

As for me, I don’t struggle with the “Can He?” question as much as the “Will He?” question. I know He can do anything, but is it really all that different to wonder if He will? Surely the Israelites knew God could provide food. They’d already seen Him send 10 plagues on the nation of Egypt. He’d parted the Red Sea for them. And He’d given them water from a rock.

So maybe there question wasn’t so much “Can He?”, but “Will He?”, just like I wonder. It’s really not so much a question of His power as it is of His goodness. I mean, come on, we all know God is all-powerful and can do whatever He wants. What we really wrestle with is whether or not we can trust His goodness toward us.

I know God is good regardless of what He does or doesn’t do for us, but when He doesn’t come through the way we’d prayed or hoped, it’s easy to question His goodness. He doesn’t seem fair. We wonder why He seems to treat others better than He treats us.

It doesn’t take much faith to believe God “can.” Real faith is required to believe He “will” and if He “doesn’t”, then He’s still good. God was angry with Israel because “they did not believe in God or trust in His deliverance.”

God can always be trusted to deliver. And when deliverance doesn’t look like we’d hoped, then we can trust in His goodness toward us, knowing that His every thought, His every action toward us is motivated by perfect goodness and love.