“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” You can end up speaking out negative words and pronouncements over yourself or about God. This not only demonstrates a lack of faith, but can actually erode your faith via your words. When we complain about God, we are questioning his goodness.
Verse 7 tells us that Moses named the place Massah and Meribah (meaning testing and quarrelling respectively) because the Israelites quarreled and put God to the test, “Is the Lord among us or not?” They questioned whether God had brought them out of Egypt to die of thirst. The latter, however, is complaining that God may not want what is best for you.Įxodus 17:1-7 tells us that the Israelites complained to Moses and the plans that God had given him for them. You needn’t be afraid to bring your lamentations and disappointments to God in heartfelt prayer. The former is offering to him your situation but still trusting in his goodness and ability to see what is best for you. That said, there is a difference between complaining to God, which can be an act of worship, and complaining about God. It should have only been a relatively short journey.Ĭomplaining and constant grumbling about your situation is a sign of a lack of faith. They ended up wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. Consequently, this may have had a detrimental effect on them, although it probably also revealed a lot about the state of their hearts. This is what the Israelites did while in the desert.
Into the wilderness series order free#
Don’t complain or grumble Image credit: Free Bible Images, courtesy of It’s easy to not feel thankful about anything and to grumble about your circumstances when you can’t see a way out of it. However, they can help you to maintain some degree of sanity while continuing to trust in God, his goodness and his promises as you’re waiting.ġ. They won’t necessarily bring you out of the wilderness any quicker. These come from Moses and the Israelites’ own experience of wandering around in the desert for forty years. The books of Exodus and Deuteronomy provide us with some practical tips for when we go through a wilderness experience.
How do we survive these periods where our lives feel desolate? We may question whether he hears our prayers and may even find ourselves no longer thirsting after God. Whatever the case, during these times we may feel that God is no longer near. Or it may be a wilderness of our own making through our own sin and withdrawal from God. Perhaps we’re unemployed, feeling our lives lack any purpose, we’ve been single for a long period of time, we lack any close friendships, an inability to have children, illness, unanswered prayers to name but a few. This may be the result of a temporary or long-term deficiency in our lives. We don’t feel that our lives are bearing much fruit, and everything feels dry. There are times in our lives as Christians when we find ourselves in a spiritually barren desert place. Please see my disclosure page for more information.**
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