DAY 574: HELP TO NEITHER MURMUR OR COMPLAIN

Our world is full of uncertainty. Chaos and unrest seem to spread hourly, causing fear to run rampant. My prayer each day is, “God help us not to murmur or complain. Teach us that these are signs of impatience and distrust of you, our faithful Lord.” In Exodus 17, Moses described murmuring as “tempting God.” The children of Israel were at Rephidim and there was no water to drink. Doubt and fear were spreading through the encampment. The people forgot all the times in the past they had been delivered and once again began to doubt that the Lord was with them. “God, why did you bring us out of Egypt? Why didn’t you let us die there instead of bringing us to this place to kill us?” they cried. The murmuring reached a crescendo as they turned their anger toward Moses with calls to stone him. Finally, in His mercy, God gave them water out of a rock. However, he gave it a name as a permanent reminder of their distrust, murmuring and complaining. “So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not’” (Exodus 17:7 NKJV)? It was to be a place forever remembered in Israel’s future. We often feel we have a right to murmur and complain because our afflictions are painful and hard to bear. There are times I have been guilty of this, but each time I reread Exodus l7, a reverent fear of the Lord grips my soul. This account emphasizes that God takes our faithlessness very seriously. God has seen us through so much in the past, and he has proven his faithfulness every time. When will we ever fully trust him? When will we wholly trust his promise to keep us, to love us, and to be our heavenly Father and keeper? If we could understand that everything will end up to God’s glory, we would rest in his Word. We would not complain or fear but would rest in the assurance that all who hold fast to faith will be blessed. May God help us take this to heart in the testing times ahead. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

Sorry. Here it is with better formatting. That sometimes happens.

In Exodus 17, Moses described murmuring as “tempting God.” The children of Israel were at Rephidim and there was no water to drink. Doubt and fear were spreading through the encampment. The people forgot all the times in the past they had been delivered and once again began to doubt that the Lord was with them. “God, why did you bring us out of Egypt? Why didn’t you let us die there instead of bringing us to this place to kill us?” they cried. The murmuring reached a crescendo as they turned their anger toward Moses with calls to stone him.

Finally, in His mercy, God gave them water out of a rock. However, he gave it a name as a permanent reminder of their distrust, murmuring and complaining. “So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not’” (Exodus 17:7 NKJV)? It was to be a place forever remembered in Israel’s future.

We often feel we have a right to murmur and complain because our afflictions are painful and hard to bear. There are times I have been guilty of this, but each time I reread Exodus l7, a reverent fear of the Lord grips my soul. This account emphasizes that God takes our faithlessness very seriously.

God has seen us through so much in the past, and he has proven his faithfulness every time. When will we ever fully trust him? When will we wholly trust his promise to keep us, to love us, and to be our heavenly Father and keeper? If we could understand that everything will end up to God’s glory, we would rest in his Word. We would not complain or fear but would rest in the assurance that all who hold fast to faith will be blessed.

May God help us take this to heart in the testing times ahead. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

The people forgot all the times in the past they had been delivered and once again began to doubt that the Lord was with them.

Why is this such a common human tendency? I can see why God made it a point to have the children of Israel erect a monument of some sort at each place where He had miraculously provided for them on their journey. How easily we forget or write off to "coincidence" God's answers to our prayers.

Lord, help me to rest in your exceedingly great and precious promises to work ALL things together for good and for your glory.

Metmom, this is a great and wise Bible truth that you have been prompted to choose for this Lord's Day meditation.

Leveled against us as "believers" is not an accusation of tolerance of the increasing evil of the world that surrounds we, but rather of lacking tolerance for our Heavenly Father's patient, long-prophesied, inexorable Plan of salvation of individuals that are willing to be rescued, and if the physical entropy-saddled painful cosmos that won't make that choice.

We may be yearning, praying for the Coming of Our Lord and Master, still engaged as the Savior, yet we too ought to be compassion enough to pause until the last soul, another brother or sister of the family of God, has been finally inducted into the Company Of The Committed, the Bride of Christ, whence the door of salvation by faith alone is closed, and God's next phase of Dreaded Tribulation kicks in, with His children and friends of the Bride wholly removed lock, stock, and barrel, from this temporal sphere.

The rot of the Satanic influence here will not impact the outcome of Jesus' leadership of His Own Kingdom nor one's sins laundered away by His Blood, that keeps your and my place in it.

That is what we should focus on, as this meditation implies.

Thank you for your encouraging, comforting choice for today.

Selah.

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