At Which Point I Realize, I Might be an Israelite

OK, so I am reading through the book of Exodus right now. And I am more than a little appalled by the Israelites.
Have you ever read Exodus? I know I read it last year when I did this read-thru-the-Bible-in-a-year thing the first time, but I had forgotten about these antics of the Israelites.
Just so we're on the same page, I'll give you a recap of where they've been.

*First, Joseph's brothers were ticked off at him, so they sold him into slavery.
*God redeemed the situation by using Joseph to save them when there was a severe famine in the land, and the whole family of Israel moved to Egypt.
*They were fruitful and became very numerous, such that the new Egyptian king got worried and decided to deal shrewdly with the Israelites. They became oppressed with forced labor.
*The order was given for Hebrew baby boys to be killed, they continued on in slavery, and they cried out to God for help.
*God heard their cry for help and used Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Which brings us to the Exodus:
The act of getting them permission to leave Egypt was, in itself, an amazing thing. And it seems to me that display of power should have been enough to carry the Israelites through to the Promised Land.
But as they looked and saw the Egyptians pursuing them, they freaked out at Moses and thought they were going to die.
Moses told them to hang tight - that God would deliver them. And God displayed even more power.
*He parted the Red Sea and allowed Moses and the gang to cross over on dry ground. But the Egyptians who followed in pursuit were all drowned.
*And Moses and the Israelites sang a song to the LORD, praising Him for this display of strength and power.
Amazing, huh? You'd think that would be enough to convince them God could be trusted at all times.

But if you thought so, you would be mistaken.

Because next they traveled for three days without water, and the Israelites began grumbling again.
But God provided water.

Then they started walking through the desert some more and were grumbling again (even saying it would have been better if they had died in Egypt, where they at least had food...), because there was no meat.
And God provided bread and meat.

When they set out traveling once more, there was no water. So the Israelites quarreled with Moses yet again.
And, yet again, God provided.

So, here I sit, reading this plight of the Israelites, thinking to myself, Oh, come on! How many times does God need to show His faithfulness to you guys before you'll finally get it? You can trust Him to provide exactly what you need, precisely when you need it. What is it going to take to get through to you???

At which point I realize, in many ways I am just like them.

Come back tomorrow and I'll explain.