Gripe and Grumble Session

Exodus 15:22-24 (NASB) (NASB) 
²²  Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³  When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
²⁴  So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"

What makes you grumble? Politicians? Finances? Hypocrisy? Tests and trials?  Job? Children? I am sure you have your list. The word grumble means to "growl, murmur." To put it another way it is the sour disposition of complaining.  

Everybody knows someone who complains, gripes, and grumbles all the time. Nothing makes them happy. They are the people who find something wrong with everything and everyone. What is worse, they do not keep their complaints to themselves. They feel it is their right to voice their complaints to everyone within ear shot. 

I have certainly done my fare share of grumbling over the years. I have also heard my fare share of grumbling from disgruntled church members. These people usually come with their complaints starting the conversation like this, "There are some people saying...." When questioned as to who those people are they are quick to crawfish.

Let's be honest. People like to grumble. People like to vent their complaints. They like to set the record straight, clear the air, tell it how it is and tell where the cow ate the cabbage. The problem is such people usually destroy others in their path. They constantly tear people down but never build them up. You can see this with many parents and the way they criticize their children. Eventually the children lose hope of every making such parents proud or happy.

Are you a grumbler? Did you wake up today grumbling and complaining? In the above passage the scriptures go on in a later verse to say God tested Israel.  God tested Israel wen they could not find water to drink. They were quick to grumble. Quick to complain and gripe. Don't we do the same when God doesn't do things the way we want.

How about a grumble free day. A day when we make a conscious effort not to complain. I bet it would be harder than you think. To go an entire day and to focus on not grumbling and griping would take great focus, the fruit of the Spirit as we submit to and walk in the Spirit. I know it is possible for all things are possible with God. So how about it. Shoot for a grumble free day. If we make it we can try for another. Maybe, in time, this could become a new pattern of behavior.