This bitterness comes with how the people respond to God's gift of liberation. This bitterness does not go away, it gets worse as the Israelites travel.
Yet no matter how often the people complain, God continues to provide for their needs and care for these complaining people.
AND THANK GOD.
We need to hear this. We need to hear this because we are fostering in a culture of complaint. In schools, in offices, in hospitals, and in churches the culture of complaint is far too easy! Bitch and moan all you want and you don't have to do anything to construct something of a solution to the problems that our communities struggle with whether they be schools, offices, hospitals or churches.
This is nothing new. Throughout the liberation journey out of slavery, there is a complaining attitude of the Israelites. yet God will turn these bitter people sweet...much like God turned the bitter water sweet, God does the same for us and here is how.
God said, “If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live in his presence, obeying his commandments and keeping all his laws, then I won’t strike you with all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians; I am God your healer.” - Exodus 15:26
God is our healer, even in the midst of the culture of complaint we find ourselves.