Grumbling and Mumbling

I have come to the conclusion that I am a grumbler. In other words, I am not a thankful person. I also am always finding something to complain about.

I am cold.

I am tired.

I am hungry. (I say this a lot)

I am not happy about my job.

That costs so much money.

There is too much to do.

Can you relate to any of these things? My poor husband must cringe every time I open my mouth. What is she going to complain and whine about now?

I am reading through the book of Numbers right now, and God smacked me right in the middle of the forehead with Number 21:5.

“For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

So the Israelites were wandering around in the dessert because they did not trust God to take care of them when they went into the Promised Land, and “they grumbled against the Lord.” (Numbers 14:1). After the report of the spies, 10 spies had a bad report and 2 spies had a “I trust in God report,” The Israelites grumbled against the Lord and God said that’s fine you grumble against Me, you can wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

Apparently, they didn’t get the message.

God supplied for them manna and quail every day, and what did they say about the provisions of God?

“There is no food and not water, and we loathe this worthless food.” (Numbers 21:5)

The food that they have, that has been sustaining them, is not what they want; so they consider it that they have no food. The food that God has been miraculously supplying them they call “worthless.”

How worthless is something that keeps you alive?

As I have read through the book of Numbers, the Israelites are characterized as being grumblers. It seems that with each event that happens in their lives they grumble about it.

As I considered this scenario, I thought about Daniel.

“He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before God” (Daniel 6:10)

Isn’t that quite the contrast to the Israelites who are ungrateful for the life sustaining food that God provides for them? How self-centered they were because they did not have the Egyptian food that they had had as captives. Not only that, but God had told them that the Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet, when they referred to Egypt they said, “You have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness.” (Numbers 16:13).

Not too many days earlier “the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery.” (Ex. 2:23).

They want freedom on their own terms. They don’t want to follow God and the path that He has for them. They don’t want to be thankful for what they have. They just want to whine, grumble, complain, and be ungrateful for what God has done for them.

So let me ask you, do you grumble and complain about what God has given to you?   I do. I am no different than those Israelites. I started praying as I went through my house for the many wonderful things that God has given to me.

What on earth do I have to grumble about?

Jesus paid my sin debt that I could never pay. He gave me His righteousness that I could never earn (justification). He loves me with a love that I can never repay.

Tell me what I have to grumble about? Tell me what you have to grumble about?

Let us as Christians make a pact together to be viewed by those who don’t know our Savior as the most thankful of all people. Let no word of grumbling come out of your mouth, but only that of praise and thanksgiving. Wouldn’t that change our world?