Complaining is Contagious

We all know the miraculous story about how God used Moses to rescue his people from the Egyptians. After many plagues, and an awe inspiring trip through the sea on dry ground, God destroyed the Israelites’ enemies and took them on a journey toward the Promised Land. They were on this journey for quite some time. One thing I did not realize until I read it recently was that there were foreigners that eventually joined with them on their journey. They didn’t see the amazing things God did before, but they did see how God was presently working in the Israelites’ lives.

Because they were in the desert, God supernaturally provided food for His people. This food was called manna, and every day that it appeared for them was another miracle provision from God. However, these gifts of God became so normal to them that they forgot to be thankful for them and even became annoyed with them. The Bible says in Numbers 11:

Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”

The people who were traveling with God’s people were craving the things that the Israelites had left behind in their bondage. They began to complain against the goodness of God and put desires in God’s people to want things from the land God had brought them out of. The Israelites began to complain as well. To make a long story short, God sent them quail and those who wanted the meat from Egypt so badly gorged themselves on it until they ate themselves to death. They buried them there in a place they named “Graves of Gluttony”.

It is amazing how people who have no true knowledge of just how much God has worked in our lives, can make us complain against what He is doing in our lives now. There are things and people in our lives that God so blessed us with, and now that we have had them awhile we are really not very thankful for them.

We hear ladies complaining about their husbands, complaining about their kids, complaining about their beautiful house they have to clean, and complaining about their job that is providing necessities for their family. They complain about their church, and they complain about other family members. To them, things would just always be better IF.

Well, if we’re not careful, we begin to pick up those patterns of complaining about all the wonderful things and people God has brought into our lives instead of thanking Him for the miracle they are for us each day. Yes, God could part a sea for you to walk through and appear to you in a huge pillar of fire that reaches up to the stars, and you could still find something to complain about!

I don’t have time to entertain complainers and their complaining ways. I want to be thankful for all that God has blessed me with. I want to see the big and small miracles God does for me every day. It was not better when I was not serving God, and the things ungodly people are experiencing are not better than what I am experiencing with God today. If I am going to complain about what He has blessed me with, I am really saying that it’s just not good enough for me and I need something more. That elusive more could very well be the death of me.

Father God, please give me wisdom and discernment to recognize when people are complaining against the very things and people You have given me. Please help me to not complain against the big and small miracles in my life, even if I am around them every day. I am so thankful for all that You have blessed me with. Please forgive me when I have not been appreciative for all You have done for me and continue to do for me every day.

#complaining