A Moment With GodSample

THE PATH OF GRUMBLERS

It is human nature to grumble. It was three months and fifteen days since the people of Israel were delivered. Seven times in Exodus 16 we come across the word: grumble. They compared their slave period to their period of deliverance. We face challenges in the path of deliverance, but the Lord who leads us and gives us the strength to face it. The people of Israel lacked the stature to trust God during those situations. They wanted immediate results but the Lord had other plans. They wanted their needs to be met now, but the Lord was preparing them for tomorrow, for eternity.

In the path of grumblers, we find discontentment. V3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” People who constantly complain and grumble are discontented people.

In the path of grumblers, we find distrust. V20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. Although the Lord had told them to gather enough manna for the day alone, they did not trust Him.

In the path of grumblers, we find disobedience. V28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? They sought deliverance and when the Lord delivered them, they refused to obey the Lord. There was constant rebellion. We want victory but we don't want to obey the Lord.

In the path of grumblers, we find discouragement. They had been facing challenges for a long time. But they failed to realize that the Lord was with them strengthening them.

There were genuine reasons for grumbling. But there was one reason for discontent, distrust, disobedience and discouragement. It was distance from God. The ones who complain, murmur and grumble are the ones who are distanced from God. We look at everything critically or negatively. We refuse to see the hand of God in health, sickness, in prosperity, in affliction, in abundance, in prosperity. Not trust, dependence or intimacy with God.

We can walk the path of grumbling throughout our lives. But if we want to walk the path of praising God, we must do the following things:

• Let us look at every obstacle as an opportunity for God to reveal His power.
• Let us believe that they are placed in our path to strengthen us. It is not an accident. The Lord knows it. He allows things to happen.
• Let us not peep into the future without God. Let us live today with Him.

The Lord will strengthen us as we walk through this day. Let us pray specifically and ask the Lord to remove this heart of grumbling.

Grumblers look for reasons to complain; others see a reason to praise in every complaint.