Grumbling Will Not Increase Your Faith
Exodus 15:1-21

Having had some health problems over the past few months I have been reminded once again that grumbling and complaining have absolutely no value!  God isn’t impressed and people get tired of hearing about it!  President Lyndon Johnson used to tell about an old hound dog that liked to lie on the front porch, baying plaintively.  “What’s the matter with that hound?” asked a visitor.  “He’s laying on a cockleburr,” said the farmer. “Why don’t he git up?” "'Cause he’d druther howl.”

Grumbling is a habit – easy to get started and hard to break. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Complaining was a life-time habit. Two million people left Egypt… only 2 of the adults were able to enter Canaan – the Promised Land.

TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT 4 PRINCIPLES

I. God wants to bless you, but you have to let Him!

            Psalm 23:1

            John 10:10

            Lamentations 3:22-26

II. Praise makes God happy; grumbling and complaining irritate Him.

III. Discipleship means that you are a student in training

            When testing comes, choose your response:

                        Fear – Frustration – Trust and Obey

IV. Praise is the secret to success

To praise God is to exalt Him – to honor Him – and to be thankful for what He has done and is doing.

           When Jacob moved his family to Egypt because of the famine, counting his children and grandchildren there were 66 persons – plus his son’s wives. When they left 400 years later, it is estimated that there were over 2 million people plus their animals. A huge undertaking!

            When they walked away, they left with the wealth of Egypt. But trouble was brewing!  Soon Pharaoh regretted his decision and set out with his army to capture them again. Remember that as slaves, they did not know how to fight. For years all they had done was do as they were told.

            Fear gripped them! They grew angry at Moses! Moses told them to calm down – and then he cried out to God, “What am I going to do now?”

            God told him to take what was in his hand – his staff – and get busy! God will provide everything we need for success. But we have to get started!

            Moses acted in faith by stretching out the staff over the Red Sea. When he did that, God went into action. The sea divided and a strong wind started drying out the bottom of the sea. Then a cloud divided the Egyptians from the Israelites. Next God sent a spirit of confusion into Pharaoh’s army.

            By morning the Israelites could safely walk across the Sea. Pharaoh said, “Well, if they can, we can!” And into the dry passage they went. Fear continued to grip the Israelites until a miracle began to happen… another miracle.  The angels took the wheels off the chariots, and then the water came crashing down on the army, destroying everything and everyone!

I. God loves to bless His people!

Psalm 23:1  "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

John 10:10  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Lamentations 3:22-26  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.’ "  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

II. Praise makes God happy; grumbling and complaining irritate Him.

TRUE PRAISE COMES FROM A HEART OF TRUST!

            It would be great if the story ended here… but it keeps going. God wanted to test and develop the people, so He sent them a few problems.

            Three days after crossing the Red Sea they began to run out of water! And boy, did the grumbling and complaining start! If you can imagine 2 million people of all ages – infants to grandparents – plus their animals in a hot barren land, you can certainly understand the discomfort!

            So Moses went back to God for instructions. Soon they came to water, but it was bitter! Now what? God instructed him to put a branch from a tree into the water and it became sweet water – water they could drink.

            The tree branch reminds us of the cross. We were doomed to despair, but Jesus went to the cross to purchase our redemption.

            About 6 weeks later they moved on – to the next problem! NO FOOD!

            So they complained.  And here is the problem.  God led them out of Egypt by a miracle. God helped them cross the Red Sea and destroyed their enemies. God turned the bitter water to sweet water. God was obviously taking care of them. 

           Why grumble? Why not simply ask God for whatever you need? Why do we struggle and struggle without trusting God?

            Jesus had the same problem with His disciples. After He fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes they started across a lake in a boat. He saw this as an opportunity to teach. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” They immediately thought He was rebuking them for forgetting to bring something to eat.

            Jesus asked, “How is it that you so quickly forgot the miracle? If I could feed 5,000 surely I can feed this group!” (Paraphrased)

            Faith always assumes the best! Hebrews says, “God is a rewarder of those who believes that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

            This was when God started providing them with Manna – bread from heaven. Along with it came further training. They could only collect enough for one day. Any kept overnight – except on the Sabbath – would get rotten and fill with maggots.

III. Discipleship = student in training

           When testing comes, you get to choose your response: *Fear*   *Frustration*   *Trust*

           God can spot a con artist immediately, so we need to settle in our hearts that God is love and that testing is only an opportunity to grow.  It’s hardly a secret – there are about 150 scriptures that link obedience and God’s blessings!

           Fear does not come from God, and Frustration is impatience, the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit.

 IV. Praise is the secret to success – and praise without obedience is just lip service!

 It is not always easy to praise God when things look bleak. Praise is sometimes referred to as a sacrifice. But a sacrifice in the Bible is also a gift. When we consider all that God is and all that He does for us, it is much easier to praise Him in the hard times.

Learn to praise God no matter what your situation is.  God tests us so He will know how we respond to the rough times.  If we fail the test He does not punish us, but keeps sending us opportunities to grow!

As you know, I have a wonderful wife.  She has praise down to a fine art.  Whenever I cook a meal – or just make coffee, it’s always WONDERFUL!  Even if I burn something – or undercook it, it’s still WONDERFUL!

If I purchase a dress for her it is always fabulous.

Greeting cards for anniversaries and birthdays get displayed. So, guess who goes out of his way to make her happy!

I know we love God, or we would not be in service today. We have a wonderful church family, and we love to minister to others. Be careful that Satan does not steal your joy like he did the Israelites. He constantly bugged them about the things they did not have, the things they could not do.  Eventually it kept most of them out of the Promised Land and left them in the wilderness for 40 long years!