Don’t Wander for 40 Years

 

Have you ever been around complainers? Answer me this, during your conversations with them, do you find it hard to keep a positive attitude? Well, not only have I been around complainers, but I’ve been one! Full disclosure, I was in a complaining ‘tude earlier this week for two days, ugh. I just couldn’t be comforted, and it was hard to change my perspective. I started complaining on Sunday of all days and it carried to Monday. My father had the privilege of spending the day with me on Monday and my mother was happy she stayed home. LOL. I’m being honest here folks! We got to be honest in order to make a change within ourselves. Have you ever tried to change a complainer’s attitude from pessimism to optimism? How did it work out for you? It was quite difficult for my father to help change my perspective around. He even wondered “what jumped on me” on Sunday. LOL!


If you want to know how complaining can shift the direction of your life, then let’s take a look at the journey of the Israelites whom God referred to as “My people”. Later, they would be divided into 12 tribes (Numbers) and have been scattered (James 1:1). Jesus is from the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:4-6). We all know that the story of Moses leading the people out of Egypt started in Exodus, but I want to bring attention to Deuteronomy chapter 1. In verse 2 we learn that it was supposed to be an 11 day journey. The people of Israel complained so much that they were dubbed as being “rebellious and stiff-necked” and because of that, they did not enter the promise land (what God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).


We learned from our ancestors that complaining to God starts with having disbelief in your heart. Even after God miraculously brought them out of Egypt with wonders and guidance-fire by night and cloud by day, parting of the red sea, etc., the Israelites still grumbled and complained. God provided whatever they needed in their journey and the Bible even said “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years” (Deuteronomy 8: 4)…wow!! Yet, they grumbled & complained to Moses so much that Moses had to fall prostrate before God and pray for them. 


When we don’t have faith in God and don’t trust Him in every circumstance, it’s easy to get distracted by all the troubles great and small. Often, we want instant gratification, happiness, but our hearts long for joy, contentment, and fulfillment. Paul said in the book of Philippians that he has “learned in whatever state I am to be content”. The Israelites were not content because if they were, they would have not complained so much and would have seen the promise land-their descendants saw the promise land.  In a state of fear, they were happy when God parted the Red Sea, but it quickly dissipated when faced with hunger & thirst in the desert.

Complaining shifts our focus from being sure in God to being in a sinking sand full of worries. Read that again. Christ is our Cornerstone, and He is our solid rock because “all other ground is sinking sand”. Jesus even tells us that worrying won’t get us anywhere and that our lives are more valuable than the birds of the air. You may not be physically wandering but I wonder if our hearts/spirits/souls have been wandering? I wonder if our complaining have us feeling lost, confused, and defeated to the point where we believe the future is bleak? What would it take to shift your focus and trust in God instead of complaining?

 In hard situations, pray for God to give you His strength because the joy of the Lord is your strength. Pray for His grace to abound in you because it is sufficient for you and His power is perfected in you when you acknowledge that you need Him and can no longer carry life’s burdens on your own. I’ve been there before, and it took God to continually tell me to be still. I was like God I can’t be still when my bank account is $0.00, I can’t be still when my next bill is due, I can’t be still when my rent is going up, I can’t be still when I only can afford to put $10-$15 dollars in my tank just to get me back and forth to work. After I tried to do it on my own, I finally gave up and said “Okay God, You’re right, let me be still and know (truly rely on, depend & trust) that You Are God. Sometimes I don’t know how but I made it because God provided. Do you trust God?

 

Warm wishes,

Carline


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