Grains of Sand

Pixabay “ Now the people complained… ” (Numbers 11:1). There is always something we can find to complain about, isn’t there? The classic complaint is usually about too much winter. Then, when summer comes, it’s too hot! For the Hebrews the issue was hardship. Perhaps packing and unpacking their tents was getting on their nerves. For that, (and it was something I hadn’t paid any attention to before) “ …fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. ” Not having learned the lesson, the next complaint was about the food (11:4). Now that has a familiar ring! They were getting bored with the manna that the Lord provided for them. They wanted something to chew, not something that dissolved to mush in their mouths. Even Moses seems to have gotten caught up in the vicious circle of “why, me?” Why hardship? Why can’t life be easier? Why can’t I eat what I really want instead of what I have? For Moses the complaint became: “Why do I have to get stuck wit...

Pixabay Nobody enjoys the presence of a complainer, but most people complain. And we usually tend to complain to the wrong person. We give the clerk a hard time when it isn't the clerk who makes the policy or decides when, and by how much, to change the prices. We tear a strip off a local politician about some decision the government made—a government whose party he might not even be a member of. David did a fair bit of complaining. The psalms are a testimony to that. David spent a fair bit of time on the run from his enemies. When we come to Psalm 142 we find the king-designate in a cave hiding from King Saul. While we have a record of his complaint, it's a good thing he didn't complain out loud about his feelings to his followers—they had a tendency to "go above and beyond" for David and would gladly have done whatever was necessary to remove Saul, his prodigy, and his followers from the earth. Those we complain to are usually not that capable—happil...

Google Images Whining was one of Israel’s biggest faults. It didn’t matter what God did for them, they always seemed to find an excuse to complain. As Moses goes over the instructions to the people on the eve of their entrance into Canaan he emphasizes the importance to remember all that the Lord has done (Deuteronomy 11:2-7) along with the importance of passing this information on to their children who had not experienced all these miracles as their parents had (11:18-21). They needed to remember and be grateful. Nobody azppreciates whiners—not even God. They are like mosquitoes buzzing in our ears and needing to be slapped—something God often did to His people. Moses's instruction to remember all that God had done was a call to the discipline of counting their blessings and thereby putting a halt to the annoying sound of constant complaining. In Deuteronomy 11 Moses focuses on the land that the Hebrews are about to take possession of. He says, in verse 12: “ It is a land the ...

Google Images Somehow it just doesn’t seem right to do everything you have been instructed to do and then end up with a less than a happy result. It wasn’t that Moses hadn’t been warned that Pharaoh wouldn’t listen to his request to allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt. In his earlier encounters with God, the Almighty had told him: “ When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go ” (Exodus 4:21). Still, Moses seems upset when, not only doesn’t Pharaoh let the people go, but he increases the burden of their labour, making it impossible to keep up the quotas that their Egyptian taskmasters expected. Moses goes off to complain to the Lord. “ O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your peop...

As Paul was finishing up his letter to the Roman church he made a request of the believers in that city. He asked them to: " Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem might be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed " —Romans 15:31, 32, NIV. As I was reading the last few chapters of Acts this morning I was reminded once again as to how God answered Paul's prayers and those of the believers in Rome. Paul had been warned not to go to Jerusalem, apparently by those who were moved by the Spirit of God to deliver that warning (Acts 21:4b). When the apostle got to Jerusalem he delivered to those in need, the charitable donations he had been entrusted to him by the Gentile believers. Then, he immediately went to the temple. Some Jews, opposed to his message, aroused the crowd and Paul was rescued, then arrested, by the Roman constabulary. He ended up ...

The conversation had an ironic twist. My friend was harshly critical of those who think they have troubles when their little frustrations in life are nothing compared to the major challenges that others face. She, on the other hand, considered herself in the latter group. Then she proceeded to tell me all her problems—all of which are of her own making and could be easily remedied if she chose to do so. Of course, when any of us point at finger, there are always other fingers that point directly back to us. I know it's of small consolation to tell someone that things "could be worse" so I'll refrain from saying that to anyone but myself. Like everyone else, I sometimes give my challenges more weight than they actually deserve. Everyone struggles. Whether those challenges are major battles or minor skirmishes is often a matter of perspective. But there is one struggle that often isn't included in our repertoire of daily battles. " In your struggle against sin,...