by Paul Chappell
Friday, Oct 6, 2017
“And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.”
Numbers 21:5–7
In the church today we often divide sins into two categories: those we think are really bad, and those that don’t seem to us to be all that serious. Often people draw that line precisely between the sins that really tempt them and the ones that don’t. That way they feel good in evaluating themselves compared to those around them, but that doesn’t change the way God views sins. He hates all of them, even the ones we deem to be “little” sins. And one of the worst of those that we so often overlook or excuse is complaining.
Mark Twain said, “Don’t complain and talk about your problems. Eighty percent of the people won’t care and the other twenty percent will think you deserve them.” But complaining is far worse than just ineffective—it is wrong.
Complaining reveals that we are not thankful for the multitude of blessings that we have received. The way God views complaining is vividly illustrated for us by the poisonous snakes God sent among the Israelites when they complained about God’s provision for them. God had graciously freed them from slavery, taken them across the Red Sea, and fed them with manna from Heaven, yet they still complained. It is not an “acceptable” sin.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Every time we murmur and complain, we are insulting God’s love and care for us.