Table in the Wilderness

They spoke against God, saying, 

“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?"

Psalm 78:19

What had brought about the question above?

This-

Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 

Whiners, the whole lot. Before we get too tsk tsk with them, they represent a group of people lost in circumstances, unable to see the provisional hand in the midst of the wilderness. 

They forgot his works 

and the wonders that he had shown them. Psalm 78:11

Russ Taff, among others, did a song about that table. 

David penned it best, though, in Psalm 23:5:

You prepare a table before me  in the presence of my enemies;  you anoint my head with oil;  my cup overflows. 

The question by the Israelites was rhetorical, but was asked as if God couldn't provide what they needed, after seeing all that God had done. 

Limited vision and ungrateful hearts leads to questions like that. May my heart not to go to a place that questions Your ability to provide a table in the wilderness. 

As Spurgeon wrote, "Let thy face ever wear a smile; live near thy Master; live in the suburbs of the Celestial City"