Why do we grumble? If you look back in the Old testament, the Israelites were proficient grumblers. The word Grumble means to mutter in discontent.

"The whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. 'If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt', they moaned.'There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death. Then the Lord said to Moses,'Look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day." - Exodus 16:2-4

Now please remember, this grumbling came after being freed from horrific slavery. The food that these men and women were glorifying, was given only to have the energy it provided stolen back from them during hard labor for the Egyptians. Later in the same desert, the people grumbled against the Manna sent from heaven...perfect food provided daily evidently was not good enough for them... they also wanted meat. God sent them quail in response to their lack of thankfulness. Next, the Israelites complained about not having any water. God heard their complaining and provided water from a rock.

Do you see the theme here? People are delivered and alive when they had been captive and dying...they want more. They look back to the past, however horrible it might be, and romanticize it, remembering only what they choose and forgetting all of the lack. They grumble against those God has chosen to lead them. They complain about being hungry. After receiving food they want something else. They whine about being thirsty. Not once does any one stop to thank God for what He has just done. Not one person asks God in prayer for provision...no, they, as we, complain instead about where they are and what they have.

It was just three days after the Lord had brought the people through the red sea...a mere 72 hours since they had sung to the Lord;

 "For He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song. Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?" -Exodus 15:11

They grumbled and grumbled and grumbled against anything and everything...but Moses said that their grumbling was actually against the Lord (Exodus16:8)

It is so easy to point a finger, but we are a lot like them. When trials come, and we experience emotional hunger and thirst, we too forget God's provision and move from gratitude to complaint.

Do all peoples grumble? No. Elisabeth Elliot was surprised to discover that the children of the Auca Indians that she worked with in South America never grumbled or complained. She believes they didn't grumble because they had not been taught to grumble. They had never heard their parents grumbling.

I wonder what my children have learned from me? What have your children learned from you?


Both grumbling and complaining contain the element of fault-finding. when we complain we make a charge or accusation. Many times times our fault-finding is with God. When we grumble, we make a charge against Him. Thanksgiving on the other hand always involves praise to God.

There will always be something in life that you could complain about. But you can choose to find ways instead to praise God...to be thankful. Hannah Whitehall Smith observed this about gratitude and grumbling: "The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing."

Even more important consider what God has to say about our hearts:Ten men from the most pitiful element of society came to Jesus for healing. They had a feared disease: leprosy. Lepers were outcasts from society, estranged from their families, hidden away in caves. Their misery was beyond description.

"Jesus was walking past their village, and these ten men stood at a distance, crying out to him. 'Jesus, master, have mercy on us!' Jesus looked on their deep pain and said,'Go show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting,'Praise God!' He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him over and over for what he had done.This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked,'Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  Luke 17:11-19

We learn from this story that Jesus heals! We also learn that when we get what we want, we like the nine lepers, can easily take credit and go on our merry way, forgetting to give thanks to God. In addition this story illustrates that Jesus equates giving thanks with giving glory to God.

Who are you? Are you the man who came running back to thank Jesus over and over? Or are you one of the nine who takes their healing and merely walks away? You can change right now. You can choose to run back, to throw yourself at His feet, to thank Him. Please, take some time right now to thank your Good father in heaven! Glorify Him! Praise Him!...This is what we were created for...