And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” ~ Exodus 16:7-8
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, is one of my favorite American authors. I love The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Joan of Arc, and Innocents Abroad. There is a genius wit in Twain’s writings, which has elements of wisdom, although he was not a Christian. Unfortunately, Twain’s wit, mixed with some quick-tempered hostility, led him to grumble.
One example is when a hypocritical businessman, whose fortune came from defrauding others, piously told Mark Twain, “One day I am going to the Holy Land and climb to the top of Mt Sinai and read the Ten Commandments out loud.” Twain, who had about as much of the pompous moke as he could take, quipped, “I have a better suggestion. Why don’t you stay home and keep them.”
Another example occurred when a young proofreader of a newspaper decided to help Twain “improve his spelling and punctuation.” Twain, upset about the bumptiousness of the young person, wrote the editor and ordered, “Set the matter according to my copy hereafter and see that the proofreader retains his suggestions in the mush of his decayed brain.” [1]
Grumbling is an interesting sin because it does not immediately mess things up like an anger explosion. Let me give an illustration. We have a door hinge that creaks loudly and annoyingly. That door hinge did not start that way. It was new and lubricated when it was first attached to the cabinet. Over time the lubrication deteriorated, and a small chirp came from the hinge. Then more time passed, and not only was the lubrication less, if non-existent, but the dust had settled in the cracks, and possible rust formed. Time, rust, and dust have turned a small chirp into a long, extended, loud, pestiferous screech. Now, every time I open that cabinet door, my skin crawls.
Grumbling is dangerous because it is serious. In a post about different translations of the Bible, Zach Garris notes this concerning Israel’s grumblings against the Lord in the book of Numbers, “In the book of Numbers, Israel had continued to grumble against the Lord, refusing even to enter the Promised Land. Then God pronounced judgment so the Israelites would wander and die in the wilderness. He says, ‘and you shall bear your whoredoms until your corpses are complete in the wilderness’ (Garris’ translation of Numb. 14:33).” [2]
What a powerful verse of Scripture. Indeed, the whole story is remarkable. Grumbling may not be such a small thing. I responded to Garris’ post with the following comment, “God sure sheds light on our heart attitudes. We think nothing of grumbling or complaining, but God equates it to whoredom.”
Think about these situations. God provided you with an excellent job to buy food and a spouse who cooks, but corn seems to be on the menu a lot, and you quip, “If I have corn one more night, I’m going to go crazy.” Or you might stand in your walk-in closet, stare at all the clothes, and say, “I just don’t have anything to wear.” Or you have spoken to your spouse many times throughout the year, “I sure do love banana shakes.” And your spouse buys you a blender on your birthday, to which you melt down and say to him, “What is this, 1958? Give the little wife a blender?” [3]
Grumbling is an expression of how one deals with circumstances. The Israelites did not like being in the desert all those years. They did not like manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna all the time. They stayed thirsty. The nomad lifestyle was wearing thin. Yet, God provided them with all their necessities. He even went with them everywhere. He was literally in the middle of them as they camped around the tabernacle. Whatever they needed, He provided. However, it was never enough. They always wanted something else, and so God called them unfaithful people who loved “to play the whore” (Num. 15:39).
Paul David Tripp has a good analysis of grumbling. He states, “Luke 6:45 says, ‘out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.’ ‘Talk problems’ are always heart problems. Your talk reveals your heart. We don’t want to believe that. We want to believe: ‘It’s my husband that makes me angry.’ ‘It’s my boss.’ It’s my car.’ ‘It’s the dog.’ Grumbling always reveals the condition of the heart.” [5]
Grumbling always reveals the condition of the heart. Moses told the Israelites essentially the same thing. Paraphrasing, he says, “Why are you complaining about me? You are really grumbling about the Lord.” Why do we grumble about the dog (cough), spouse (cough, cough), the Lord? Because we want a life of ease. We do not wish for obstacles. We do not want needs. And because of sin and selfishness, we ultimately say, “I don’t like the way you are orchestrating my life, God, and I don’t need you.”
Christians must put off the grumbling mindset and behavior (Eph. 4:22-24). We must put on Paul’s attitude found in 2 Corinthians 1:8-14, which is thanksgiving. Paul says that he looked at his obstacles in life as another opportunity to talk about God’s extraordinary grace that he had experienced. When he could no longer deal with life’s difficulties, he gave up on himself and simply trusted the God who would raise him from the dead one day. That was enough because that was all he had left. When we have this kind of beatitude (attitude of being) for righteousness, we are filled (Matthew 5:6). We understand things not from the vantage point of our obstacles but from that of God’s sovereignty as it plays out for those who are His cherished possessions (Isa. 43:4, 1 Peter 2:9, Eph. 3:20).
[1] Mark Twain, The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations (New York: Dover Publications, 1998).
[2] Zach Garris, this is a Facebook post/discussion in a pastors’ group.
[3] This is a quote by Annie Banks in the movie Father of the Bride. Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, The Father of the Bride, Touchstone Pictures, 1991.
[5] Paul David Tripp, “Grumbling—A Look At A ‘Little’ Sin,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling 18:2 (Winter, 2000): 48.
Andrews PCA 