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(Presented by Lisa Bishop)
Would you say you gravitate towards grumbling or gratitude?
We don’t have to read very far in the Bible to see numerous examples in the Old Testament where grumbling was rampant, and gratitude was severely lacking. The Israelites rarely seemed to be content and when they were it lasted a hot minute before they were back to their complaining ways. They give examples of what it looks like and sounds like to forget God’s faithfulness. To fail to remember all of the ways he has, is and will provide for your daily needs. All too often it’s easy to be tempted to measure your gratitude against the backdrop of what you want rather than trusting God sees the bigger picture and will never deny you of what you actually need.
In Exodus 16 we see the Israelites are in their sixth week of wandering in the wilderness after the Lord has just delivered them from over 400 years of slavery. As they enter the wilderness it also begins a cycle of crisis, grumbling, God’s provision, gratitude. Now let’s be honest, I don’t know if you or I would have acted much differently with our lack of gratitude but what I don’t want us to miss is that the wilderness is a training ground to mature in Christ, to grow in our ability to see God’s provision even in hard circumstances and to learn to trust him.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:2-3).
After they complain, God responds by providing for their needs. They are grateful for a short time but quickly have gratitude amnesia and the cycle of grumbling begins again. It’s a recurring pattern not only for the Israelites, but for our spiritual lives as well.
When you are facing challenging circumstances, it can be easy to focus on what you do not have and to forget what there is to be grateful for. Here’s a challenge for you. Write a list of ten things you are grateful for. Nothing is too small. Thank God for them. Learn to be content as you practice turning your grumbling into gratitude.