Grumbling or Trusting?

 "And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.“

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When things aren’t going well for us, we have a tendency to complain. We have a tendency to whine. And we have a tendency to protest.

We do so, believing that we deserve better. We do so, believing that we’re being treated unfairly. We do so, believing that God is withholding from us his blessing.

Such behavior reflects not faith. It reflects not a trust in the Lord. And it reflects not the belief that God is good. It reflects, in fact, the opposite.

We see this, as well as the response of the Lord to such an attitude, as we look at the verse above. After their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel followed the Lord on their way to the Promised Land. The journey, however, was not easy.

They, then, began to complain about their misfortunes. They began to complain in the face of their distress. And they did so in the Lord’s hearing.

The Lord, in other words, knew what they were saying. He was aware of their complaints. And his anger was kindled.

As we consider them, the Lord’s feelings make sense. After being miraculously delivered from bondage, why would they fail to trust in the Lord now? What reason did they have to believe that he would not care and provide for them? And what would motivate them to believe they’d been suddenly abandoned?

Rather than complaining, they should have come to the Lord in their distress. They should have brought to him their need. And they should have looked to him for his provision.

In the same way, rather than complaining about our misfortune, we should bring it before the Lord. We should entrust it to him. We should look to him in our hour of need, knowing that he will both hear and answer.

God, after all, is good. He has always been faithful. He’s withheld from us no blessing. He even sacrificed his only Son, that we might receive adoption as his children.