From miracles to murmurs

I recently read an article about murmuring and it inspired a blog entry. Having been in the ministry with my husband for over 20 years, I’ve certainly dealt with it before. To Murmur….the definition of this strange word is to grumble or complain. It can happen anywhere. It often happens at work, frequently in churches, sometimes it even happens in our homes. The Israelites fell prey to it. They had just witnessed weeks – perhaps even months – of incredible miracles. They had seen the River Nile turned to blood. They had witnessed miraculous plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, the death of Egyptian cattle, plagues of boils, hail and fire, locusts and impenetrable darkness. They had witnessed the killing of the Egyptian firstborn and the protection of those who’s door frames were sealed with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. They had seen God going before them in an immense pillar of cloud and fire. They had seen the mighty Red Sea opened before them, allowing them to cross it on dry ground, then close behind them, drowning the pursuing Egyptian army.


And what was the first thing the Israelites did after all this? Two of them – Moses and his sister Miriam – did the right thing. They sang songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

But many of their countrymen began to murmur! They complained about not having enough water to drink, about being hungry, about being tired of eating manna, you name it, they complained about it. Talk about amnesia! They had already forgotten all that God had done for them and all that He had promised them as well.

A study of the subject of murmuring in the Bible shows that the first result of murmuring is a diminishing of the truth. Murmuring turns into rumors which are then presented as truth which causes even more murmuring. Perhaps if we spent more time praying for God’s will, and less time fussing about our wants, we’d have less time to complain about things that, in the eternal view of things, don’t really amount to anything anyway.

Philippians 2:14-17 (New International Version)

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…”