Grumbling or Gratitude
As I have been reading through the Old Testament I have found it very interesting that the Israelites seem to complain a lot. At times I have found myself getting very frustrated and having a hard time trying to identify with the Israelites because of this. How could they question God when they have seen Him lead them out of slavery with one great miracle after another. Then as they begin their journey to the Promise Land, God provided a cloud to guide the Israelites by day and a pillar of fire by night. Food is scarce and water is virtually nonexistent in a wilderness - unless of course, you are eating manna from the dew and drinking water from rocks!
Then I realized, wait a minute, I do the same thing that the Israelites did, I question God and I often complain. I have seen God provide many times in my own life and my families life and yet, there are times when I do not give God 100% of my trust, I tend to take things back into my own hands, as if I can do a better job than God. Too often our troubles result from our own disobedience or lack of faith. I find it very interesting that the Israelites would complain to one another and nothing was accomplished, but Moses would take his complaints to God, who could solve any problem big or little and something happened. I don't know about you, but I am good at complaining, I need to learn to take all of my complaints to the One who can do something about them! It is often "us" who makes our life journey more difficult than necessary by our own disobedience to God. A journey that could have taken the Israelites only 11 days took them 40 years because of disobedience. What journey are you on in your life? I know there have been times in my life that God allowed my disobedience to Him to take a few detours. I am thankful that I serve a God of second chances. We must remember that God can deliver us like he did the Israelites. Eventually they did make it to the Promise Land but it wasn't an easy path.
So today I am going to try and choose gratitude over grumbling, how about you?
Then I realized, wait a minute, I do the same thing that the Israelites did, I question God and I often complain. I have seen God provide many times in my own life and my families life and yet, there are times when I do not give God 100% of my trust, I tend to take things back into my own hands, as if I can do a better job than God. Too often our troubles result from our own disobedience or lack of faith. I find it very interesting that the Israelites would complain to one another and nothing was accomplished, but Moses would take his complaints to God, who could solve any problem big or little and something happened. I don't know about you, but I am good at complaining, I need to learn to take all of my complaints to the One who can do something about them! It is often "us" who makes our life journey more difficult than necessary by our own disobedience to God. A journey that could have taken the Israelites only 11 days took them 40 years because of disobedience. What journey are you on in your life? I know there have been times in my life that God allowed my disobedience to Him to take a few detours. I am thankful that I serve a God of second chances. We must remember that God can deliver us like he did the Israelites. Eventually they did make it to the Promise Land but it wasn't an easy path.
So today I am going to try and choose gratitude over grumbling, how about you?
Comments
Vicki