ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites all got sick…

They all caught a deadly virus.  It was far more virulent and lethal than the SARS virus that brought death an destruction to our world.  It was the G virus — the “grumble” germ…

All but two occurrences of “grumbling” in the Old Testament are found in six chapters of the Pentateuch: Exodus 15, 16, and 17, and Numbers 14, 16, and 17.  Of all the sins of the fathers, God counted this one of the worst.  It is one of Satan’s most effective weapons because it robs us of God and robs God of us!

Sometimes learning what God thinks about our grumbles helps us to deal with them.  First of all, God hears us when we gripe and grumble.  Numbers 11:18 says, “The LORD heard you when you wailed.”  Over and over again the Bible says that God heard the Israelites’ griping and their grumbling.  We need to know that God doesn’t want to hear it!

Our son and daughter-in-law have seven children.  There is a sign displayed in a prominent place in their kitchen that says briefly and succintly: “No whining!”  Whining is unacceptable behavior to those parents, and it is unacceptable to God .  It poisons the environment and spoils relationships.  It makes God sad to hear us whine, and it also makes Him mad!  “Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD.  And when He heard them His anger was aroused” (Numbers 11:1).  God wants us to know that wailing and whining are unacceptable behaviors.  Jill Briscoe, “The Other Side of Redemption,” Here Am I Lord…Send Somebody Else!, 80-81

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Mike Benson