Psalm 103:2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
Many people complain as a way of life, and no matter
how much the Lord blesses them with, it just does not seem to suit them. The
Children of Israel became a nation of complainers from the time God led them
out of the bondage in Egypt. They complained to Moses that they had no water;
God gave them water. They grumbled that they had no food; God gave them manna
and quail to eat.
They then proceeded to complain that all they had to
eat was manna and quail. God blessed them in ways that were beyond human
comprehension. He was fulfilling a promise He had made to make a great Nation
of them. God promised the Children of Israel a land filled with milk and honey.
With all God was doing for them, had done for them,
and was going to continue to bless them with, they scorned and despised His
blessings. To speak against or to complain about the blessings of God is to
speak against God Himself. For this reason, God sent them on a 40-year circle
in the wilderness instead of the 11-day journey they could have made to the
Promised Land.
There is a story about a summer camp. When the
morning service had concluded, many people came forward to accept Christ Jesus
as their Lord and Savior. The invitational hymn that touched their hearts was
“Where He leads me, I will follow.” After the worship service, they all went to
the dining hall for lunch. The meal served was some leftovers from the previous
evening’s dinner, and they all started complaining and griping about the food.
Finally, one of the counselors came forward in the dining area and said: “I
don’t think you should be singing where He leads me, I will follow, if you are
not willing to say what He feeds me, I will swallow.”
As evidenced by the 40 years, the Children of Israel
spent in the wilderness when the journey could have been less than two weeks, God
does not take our complaining lightly. When we complain about what the Lord has
done for us, we say to Him; you cannot provide for my every need like You
promised in your Holy Word. Thus, we are, in essence, calling God a liar.
The old hymn that says, “count your many blessings,
name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done,” is very
true indeed. When we realize just how much God has done for us and begin to
thank Him for it instead of griping that He has not done enough, He will then
bless us with thankful hearts.
If we spent a fraction of the time praying as we do
complaining, we would soon have no reason to complain.
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