Grumbles

I’m not even going to ask if anyone reading this ever grumbles about anything. I catch myself doing it every day.

I grumble about going to work in the morning sometimes. There are people out there who can’t find a job. I grumble if the car made a weird noise on the drive to work. But I’m not walking – and if there’s something wrong with the car I have the money to get it fixed. I grumble about it being cold and damp outside. But I don’t live outside. I live inside, where I can turn on the heat and be comfortable.

I catch myself in the act of grumbling and can’t help but remember the folks Moses led out of Egypt. They left Egypt and were all praising God for their liberation and like 1500 feet outside of the city they start complaining. So, God sends them a miracle and they all start praising and rejoicing and then like an hour later they’re groaning about something else. They grumbled that they were hungry and God sent them manna. They loved the manna for about a minute and then they wanted something else. I had a 2003 Subaru up until a few months ago. It was running okay, had a few minor issues but it got me there and back – as long as there wasn’t very far away. I wanted something a little newer so I could feel confident going on longer drives, to visit friends, etc. So when my neighbor was getting rid of their Suzuki, which was a little newer I grabbed it for $1500. And gave the Subaru to an 18 year old neighbor for a first car. I’m grateful for the upgrade and enjoy the “new” car that God gave me the provision to have. I have no car payment on the vehicle. Yet, I found myself grumbling not long after that the car made a noise. It wasn’t a new car. I stopped myself pretty quickly but it was done, I’d grumbled.

I often see this meme on social media sites.

I imagine that this is how God feels ALL THE TIME.

1 Peter 4:9 says, “Be hospitable to one another without complaint.” It’s not about the reward. It’s about your intention.

When we grumble and complain what does God do? Take a look at the Bible and see what he’s done in the past to people who grumble and complain. When I grumble about something, God lets me stay right in the circumstance I’m grumbling about. “Complain and remain”. He kept Moses and that gang out in the wilderness for forty years because they wouldn’t stop complaining. If they’d just been grateful and trusted God he’d have brought them to the Promised Land in about two weeks. I try to keep that lesson in front of me on a daily basis because I need it.

I think about Paul writing all those letters from prison. If he didn’t tell us that he was in prison we wouldn’t know it because he never complained. He wrote about being content.

How many trips around the mountain do we really want to take?

http://www.amazon.com/author/tracypetry

Advertisement