HOW SOON WE FORGET

This message was preached at Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, OH on Sunday, May 31, 2009.
Normally, we cover major sections of a chapter, or a chapter or more on any given message. But, in this case, I chose to cover just 6 verses, because they really summarize the cycle that the people of Israel went through in their relationship with God. And it is seen clearly in this passage, as well as the surroundin chapters. But, it also is a good summary of what we all go through in our Christian journey as well. I trust this will be a challenge to you, to evaluate your attitude, as it has been for me, as I prepared and presented this message. The video: The Complaint Zapper, can be seen at www. sermonspice.com and by looking up the title: Shockingly Negative. It is a great video. I recommend you take the time to check it out.


HOW SOON WE FORGET
Exodus 15:22-27

Please turn in your Bible to the 2nd book of the Bible, the book of Exodus, and chapter 15…Exodus 15.

It was the end of the school year, and a kindergarten teacher was receiving gifts from her pupils. The florist’s son handed her a gift. She shook it, held it overhead, and said, "I bet I know what it is. Some flowers." "That’s right" the boy said, "but how did you know?" "Oh, just a wild guess," she said.The next pupil was the sweet shop owner’s daughter. The teacher held her gift overhead, shook it, and said, "I bet I can guess what it is. A box of sweets." "That’s right, but how did you know?" asked the girl. "Oh, just a wild guess," said the teacher.The next gift was from the son of the liquor storeowner. The teacher held the package overhead, but it was leaking. She touched a drop of the leakage with her finger and touched it to her tongue. "Is it wine?" she asked. "No," the boy replied, with some excitement. The teacher repeated the process, taking a larger drop of the leakage to her tongue. "Is it champagne?" she asked. "No," the boy replied, with more excitement. The teacher took one more taste before declaring, "I give up, what is it?" With great glee, the boy replied, "It’s a puppy!"

Have you even had certain expectations only to be completely surprised and even frustrated and discouraged with the actual results? You are sure you know what will happen, or atleast what should happen; and when it doesn’t, your emotions run wild and you have a hard time dealing with them. What do you do when things don’t go as you expect or desire? This morning, we are going to camp on just a few verses here in Exodus 15, to learn from Israel’s example and to apply it to our lives today. One of the biblical truths that we have been emphasizing throughout our series in Exodus is this:

Romans 15:4 – “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

What we are reading in the Old Testament about events in the lives of the Israelites thousands of years ago, was written for us to apply to our lives today. Even when the Apostle Paul, in the New Testament, talked about the experiences of the nation of Israel in these stories in Exodus, he said this:

I Corinthians 10:6 – “Now these things took place as examples for us…”

And in this morning’s passage, there is an example that applies to all of us, on a daily basis. In our own frame of life, we also have expectations of what life should bring, and how God should bring it for us; and we are often disappointed, and then challenged with how we respond to those disappointments. Let’s learn from Israel this morning, and then make the right choices in our lives today.

Our theme for the book of Exodus has been: Redeemed For Relationship. God did not bring His people out of Egypt so that they could be comfortable for the rest of their lives, and problem free. He brought them out to have a special relationship with Him. In just a few chapters from where we are now, God is going to reveal His specific set of commandments that He wanted His people to keep. But, for now, God has just brought His people out of bondage, and is already teaching them how to trust in Him for their every need. They are learning what it means to experience true freedom in relationship with God.

Last week, we looked at the song that Moses and the people of Israel sang, in response to God’s incredible deliverance at the Red Sea. They praised God for who He was and what He had done for them. They were on a spiritual high. If you were to ask them how their relationship with God was at the moment, they would respond: “never been better…God is great, and we are in a very, close, intimate relationship right now.” Perhaps you have felt that way before. But, all of those feelings were about to change.

In these 6 verses, we have pretty much a summary of the cycle that the people of Israel are going to experience throughout their wanderings in the wilderness. And that is why I think it is important for us to camp here this morning. Just in these verses, with some example from the surrounding chapters, you will get a feel for what the children of Israel will experience over the next 40 years of their wilderness wanderings, and even more into their future. And I think you will see that the cycle the people of Israel experienced is the same one you and I go through on a regular basis. The question is: are you willing to recognize it, and more importantly, are you willing to do something about it?

Here in Exodus, God had just delivered Israel from Egypt after 400 years in bondage, by bringing 10 plagues of judgment on Egypt. He then rescued them from the pursuing Egyptian army, as He parted the waters of the Red Sea, led the 2,000,000 of His people through on dry ground, and then brought the waters back down on the Egyptian army, drowning them all! The people of Israel responded with a song of praise, which is found in the first 21 verses of Exodus 15. And this is how the cycle begins:

1. We experience God’s blessing

That is the situation of Israel in chapter 15. They had experienced incredible blessings from God; as they would throughout their wilderness experience. They were in slavery for 400 years, and now they had incredible freedom. They witnessed, with their own eyes, the amazing things that God did in order to secure their freedom.

After being set free from Egypt and basically pushed out of the land, they soon found themselves at a dead end; or so it seemed. The Red Sea was before them, and the Egyptian army was pursuing close behind. We got a view of what they do often when they get in a tough situation: they feared and they blamed someone. But, what did God do? He told Moses to tell the people: Stand still and watch the salvation of the LORD!

This deliverance motivated Moses and the people of Israel to sing a song of praise to the greatness of God:

Exodus 15:2 – “The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

When the blessings are there, and are evident; especially if we have been delivered from danger, we do what the people of Israel did:

· We look to Him

This is not that difficult to do, when we know that God has delivered us in an incredible way. Our eyes go to Him and our praise goes to Him. That is the context of these verses this morning. They looked to Him, trusted in Him, and praised Him, when the blessings were abundant. But, it wasn’t long before the circumstances changed.

As far as the people of Israel knew, life would be easy now. The enemy was gone, they were out of bondage and God had promised to lead the nation to a Promised, amazing land. We know that they had expectations of what God would do because of the responses they give when things don’t go their way.

It is easy for us to do the same thing, especially after an incredible high spiritually. We feel so close to God, and we have seen His deliverance. In a sense, we expect things to go well for us now. Many new believers think that since coming to Christ is an exciting thing (and it is!) and because God delivered them from many troubles in their life (and He has!), that God will now give them a life of relative ease (but He won’t!) Here is the second main stage of this cycle:

2. We have expectations we put on God

You may say you don’t have undue expectations of God, but we can easily fall into it. We think that if are trying to do our best, that He certainly wouldn’t allow anything difficult into our lives or the lives of our loved ones would He? Now that I have seen His great blessings, that is the way of the Christian life, right? And when we have our own expectations of the way we think life ought to be:
· We assume our own future

This is the time of year that many people are graduating from some stage of academic life. And Christian graduates, all over the world, will hear and use this verse as they celebrate graduation:

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

And many times this verse is used to say how wonderful things are going to be now for these graduates, in the future, because of God’s promise. Well, He did promise this to Israel; but involved in that hope for the future, was also a lot of pain and struggles and judgment for sin. The people of Israel assumed all would go well, from their perspective. But, we have to see these things from God’s perspective, or we will be tempted to do exactly what the people of Israel are going to do here at the end of Exodus 15. They had their own expectations of a future…

…A future that has not been promised. God promised the people of Israel release from bondage and a close relationship with Him. They knew that a promised land was in their future. What they had no idea of, however, was how long the journey would take, how difficult it would be; and the tremendous responsibilities that would be placed on them…the ones who had been redeemed and greatly blessed by God. But, things did not go as expected:

Exodus 15:22 – “Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.”

The incredible deliverance was over, the Egyptian army was gone: not just gone…they were dead! And now it was time to move on to the Promised Land. But, three days into their trip, they realized something: there is no water to drink. They had moved from the lakes region into the Desert. And water, of course, was crucial for the people of Israel; as well as for their animals. No water! That can’t be. So, they continued to travel, and then came the great news: we found water! It would be like the announcement for people lost at sea, in a boat, to finally hear that they found land. They had to have water for survival, and they found it. But…

Exodus 15:23 – “When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.”

One commentator described it their predicament this way: “Imagine with me, the hot arid region, half desert and half wilderness. Think of the large slithering serpents that fled from sight as they approached some rock. Think of the large vultures flying overhead, suspicious of this vast group of people, suspicious that they were going to collapse and die in the wilderness. Consider the cries of the small children as they begged for parents to carry their weary, sunburned little bodies. Consider the plight of the father who is now lumbering under the load of a few possessions and the 100 degree sun pounding down on his head and the dry desert winds parching his lips. Consider the mother trying to ignore her own discomfort to attend to the needs of the crying children. Consider the thoughts that are now present in the mind of Moses as he remembers speaking boldly to Pharoah and to the people about a God who is going to deliver them. Perhaps, the whole saga is going to fall woefully short and that they will indeed die in a wilderness.The nights brought no relief for the nights were just as cold as the days were hot. Shivering on the sands was just as discouraging as trying to battle the sun in the daytime. Here they move along and come to a place where water is sighted. There is no way to hold back the three million Israelites from stampeding the water. They run to the water, some half stumbling and sprawling into the water. Just before they get to the water, no doubt some began to laugh with delight and with relief about the refreshment they are about to take part in. But somewhere between that laugh and the first taste of the water something happens. The water becomes bitter. It is undrinkable. Imagine that just about the time that the water begins to fill the mouth the discovery is made that the taste is horrible.” They had found water, but it was undrinkable. And they had the same response we do when we had certain expectations and they didn’t come about:

3. We get disappointed.
This is understandable, in their situation, isn’t it? They had the expectation that there would be water provided to sustain life; and that God would give them whatever they needed. But, the reality was that there was not water; and once they came to Marah and found water, it was undrinkable. Marah is the Hebrew word for “bitter.”Can you see their fallen faces and sighs of disappointment? Their expectations were crushed and we know of their utter disappointment because of what happens next.

It is the same for us, isn’t it? You have a certain expectation that God is going to provide something, and when it doesn’t come, there is profound disappointment. When we first got married, we expected, that as soon as we really tried to get pregnant it would happen. I mean: God knew how much we desired children, so it would happen when we were ready, right? Wrong! And it brought disappointment. You work hard, but don’t get the expected raise. You save diligently but your investments go down with the economy. You studied hard, but still did not get that scholarship. Unmet expectations bring disappointment, to all of us. And when this happens…
· We focus on our present circumstances

“Marah brought great disappointment. Their hopes seemed at long last to be fulfilled. About to enjoy the refreshment, about to delight in something that had for three days been denied them, but the taste only left them with bitterness.” This can happen to us. We get our focus on our present, undesirable, circumstances, and we wallow in our disappointment, possibly allowing bitterness to take root and grow in our hearts.

And the reason we are disappointed is because we are not able to see the full picture of what God is doing. It is because: We are not thinking about God’s overall plan. We do not have His perfect perspective. We are only thinking of ourselves, our present circumstances, and how much they stink! This is what can lead to discouragement and bitterness. We become so focused on what is happening right now that we can’t see the forest beyond the trees. We see the rain but not the rainbow.

I have a question: What happened to the praise of Exodus 15:1-21? They were just full of praise for all the incredible things God had done in rescuing them from the land of Egypt; and then delivering them through the Red Sea, and defeating the Egyptian army. They were flooded with praise of how great God was and the great things He had done. And then what…just days later, they are without water, and the praise is all gone…the trust is gone…the dependence on God is gone? Their focus is completely on their present circumstances when it should be on the incredible God who has delivered them before and can certainly meet all of their needs now.

In their book, Ted Kyle and John Todd include a writing entitled: “Why Me Lord?” Many of us are like the person who said, “My car broke down and it cost me $400 to get it fixed…. $400 that I did not have. Why me Lord? After all, I’ve been better than most. Why are you treating me this way? Why are you punishing me this way? Then the TV went on the blink, and so did the dishwasher, and the clothes dryer and the lawn mower, and even the iron! Why me, Lord? Besides that, why, at my age, should I still be having financial problems? Why am I not “set” financially like some others I know? Why have you denied me opportunities for fame and fortune that you have given to others? Why me, Lord?”
The writing continues: “When I find myself starting to think like this, it sometimes helps for me to ask the same questions about the other aspects of my life. Lord, what have I done that is so grand that you should have blessed me with a car, a TV set, a clothes- dryer, a lawn mower, and an iron? Why did you give me all these things anyway? Why me, Lord? Lord, why did you permit me to be born in America with all its plenty? I could have been born in poverty-stricken Bangladesh instead of rich America. Why me, Lord? Lord, why did you give me the opportunity to have a job when so many, who are as deserving as I, are without work? Why me, Lord? Lord, why did you give me good health? Others have died at my age of heart attacks or are crippled by accidents or disease. Why should I escape ill health when other religious people do not? Why me, Lord? Lord, why have you spared me from the sorrows that strike so many other families? Others, wonderful people, have lost close relatives, but I haven’t. Why me, Lord?
When I think of all the ways the Lord has blessed me, though I don’t deserve it. I wonder how I could possibly complain about the relatively insignificant things that go wrong in my life from time to time. If I could only learn to count my blessings.”

When we focus on our present, difficult circumstances, we begin to question why, and disappointment can lead to complaining and bitterness. And that is exactly what happened with Israel here. You might ask: Well, Greg, how do you know this is the case? How you know they weren’t completely trusting in God? We know that because of the very next verse, which explains their response to their current circumstances:

Exodus 15:24 – “And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”

The people of Israel saw that there was no water; but instead of resting in God’s promise, they did what we do…and you know what we do, right?

4. We complain

There was no water. When there is water, it is undrinkable. So, what are we going to do? What can we do? We have no water. The best thing we can do is figure out who is to blame for this predicament; and isn’t it obvious? Our leader is to blame!
Moses: what in the world were you thinking? What are we supposed to do? We have no water, and we need water to survive.

They grumbled against Moses, God’s chosen leader for them, because who else were they going to grumble against? It is natural to take our complaints to whomever the leader is, and that is what they did. But, instead of sharing their problem with Moses and asking Him to intercede with God, they grumbled. Instead of talking about how they just needed to wait patiently on God, knowing He would meet their needs, they grumbled.

Most of us refuse to grumble, out loud, to God. So, we pick a human target, an easier target, for our complaining. We pick our children, spouse or parents. We pick our teachers, or government authorities, coaches, pastors or neighbors. We decide that they got us into this mess and we didn’t deserve this kind of trouble. It is their fault and they deserve our wrath. So, we yell at them, or call them names or give dirty looks. We tell them how it is their fault. We tell others about how terrible of a leader or person he is; and what kind of grief they have caused us.

Of course, our complaint is really against God. Moses said later to the complaining people of Israel:

Exodus 16:8 – “…Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”

We won’t admit that, so we take it out on someone we can see, and someone we hope to hurt with our complaint, as they have hurt us. Moses wasn’t perfect, for sure. But, he had done the things God had asked him, and led the people where God led them. But, since God led them to a place without water, the people assumed Moses had failed in his leadership.

Did you know there are some churches that have people in them that grumble just about anything? They grumble about the temperature in the building, if it isn’t just right. They grumble about music, the budget and the choir. They grumble about how many programs the church has and what the content is. They grumble about what the pastor wears, what translation of Bible he uses and even about what he places his notes on when he speaks. They don’t like the direction of the church - the place where the leader, that God has given them, is taking them, so what do they do? Their complaint is against God, really; but they don’t grumble out loud against God. They grumble against the leaders.

The people of Israel forgot what God had already done in their past; or at least they didn’t allow it to affect them. They forget the truth of their history and what God has done, but chose to remember or misremember their bondage in Egypt - crazy

I don’t blame them. It is natural for us to do just that. It doesn’t make it right, but I struggle with the same thing that the Israelites struggled with back then. And they began to do the unthinkable, which really made no sense. And yet, we tend to do the same thing:

· We long for the past to return

We don’t have it in this verse, but all around these verses, we see the pattern. First, let’s come back to what the people said, just after God miraculously delivered them from Egypt and now they were in a seeming dead end: the Red Sea on one side and the Egyptian army on the other. They found their leader and said:

· Thank you so much for your willingness to do what God asked you to do in leading us out of bondage. Did they say that? No.
· It had been a long 400 years! We are so grateful that you followed God’s call, even though it was difficult. Did they say that? No.
· And we want you to know, that even if God chooses to let the Egyptian army kill us or take us back to bondage, we are forever grateful for your leadership. Is that what they said? NOPE!

Exodus 14:11,12 – “They said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

What is the world are they talking about? How could they think that God had performed all those miracles with the plagues just to bring them out there to die; and yet that is what they were asserting against Moses. And can you believe what they said: “we told you to leave us alone in the first place. We wanted to remain as slaves!” Are you kidding me?

It is like the spouse that says: I wish I never married you. It is the child that wishes he were never born into that family. Even though God had brought you into relationship with other people, you quickly wish you didn’t have those relationships when things get difficult. It is ridiculous, but it is also human nature.

Once they moved on from Elim (vs.27), they went to the wilderness of Sin; and got hungry. And what encouraging words did they have for their leader? Look ahead with me at:

Exodus 16:2,3 – “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

It happened again. After God provides water here at Marah, they then get hungry in the wilderness and grumble about that! In fact, it says the entire congregation grumbled against the leaders. There aren’t 2,000,000 of you; but it would be representative if all of you stood up in this service and started complaining about something you don’t like in the church; and talking about how much you wish you still belonged to your old church; or how you wish you still had your favorite previous pastor.
They started to long for the “good ole days” when they were in Egypt, sitting by the meat pots and had all you can eat bread. What? The good ole days? You were slaves, working from sunrise to sunset, sitting by the meat pots because you could hardly stand up. You misremember! Israel: the reason you think it was go great back then, is because your present difficult circumstances are clouding your faith, and you are not able to see the truth: the past wasn’t so great after all; and more than that, your great God is still in control and has His purpose in mind.

And you’ll never believe it, but once the people of Israel move on from this part of the wilderness, they get to Rephidim, and guess what? no water…again! And you’ll never guess as to what their great response of faith was to their new, difficult circumstances. Look ahead to:

Exodus 17:2,3 – “Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Can you believe that? They grumbled and complained, just in these few chapters:
· After God miraculously brought them out of Egypt
· After He does what He is about to do in these verses, providing water
· After He, in chapter 16, provide miraculously the bread that they need

In each of these cases, after God provided in incredible ways, they come into new, difficult circumstances, and just like that, they begin to grumble and complain. But don’t be too hard on Israel. Because if you and I were honest, we do the same thing.

· You have a job that provides for you and your family…but then you lose your job, get laid off, lose benefits, or get passed over for a raise
· You think you have found someone you love… and it falls apart; and your are all alone
· The answer to your prayer… is delayed
· You tithe and give…but it still seems like the money isn’t there
· You get involved in a ministry…but don’t see the results you want
· You come to church…but things aren’t moving spiritually like you would like them to

So, you are tempted to complain. And in difficult circumstances, your mind is clouded and you begin to talk about the past, as though everything was perfect back when…; which means you are completely overlooking the facts that God never changes, and that He is fully able to handle your present circumstances as well. In fact, He has allowed your present, difficult circumstances so that you can grow spiritually and that He can be glorified.

You know what the people of Israel needed? To stop their ridiculous grumbling and complaining, do you know what they needed? They needed The Complaint Zapper. You don’t know what the complaint zapper is? Let me introduce you to it:

VIDEO: The Complaint Zapper

We showed this video to our kids and suggested we buy it for them for Christmas. They weren’t very interested in that…for some reason. They were a little concerned that there might be such a thing. If only the Israelites had complaint zappers; then, perhaps they wouldn’t have been so quick to grumble and complain, whenever they found themselves in a difficult situation. Let me ask you this: if you had a complaint zapper around your neck, how many times would you have been zapped in the past 24 hours? This morning, I want to encourage you to evaluate your own attitude, to really consider this issue of complaining, and how it relates to our relationship with God.

The people of Israel certainly did not deserve to be rescued again. They probably deserved to die of thirst. But, once they grumbled at Moses, he turned to God and asked for help:

Exodus 15:25 – “And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet…

Moses did what the people should have done. He went to the only one who could do anything about their problem. He went to the one who had proved Himself faithful. He went to the one that the people of Israel were ignoring. And once he did go to God, they experienced what we have experienced over and over and over again:

5. We receive God’s provision
No, of course it doesn’t happen in our timing or way; but at some point, God does what is best and provides what is needed. In this case, they needed fresh water. So, God points Moses to a log, Moses throws it in the water, and just like that…the water is drinkable again. We have an amazing God. What were they so worried about, huh?

What are we so worried about, in tough circumstances, when we know we have access to the same God the people of Israel had access to. We have a God that can do anything. We have a God who knows our circumstances. We have a God who makes no mistakes. And just like with the people of Israel, when God does make provision:

· We are refreshed with God’s grace

Were you here last Sunday morning to hear the testimonies that were given? It was amazing to hear, over and over again, of how God has touched people’s lives in incredible ways, showering His grace upon us; even though we don’t deserve it. He does it to show us His power, and bring glory to Himself. And that is exactly what we did last week, as we recounted what God has done, and directed our praise to Him. If you were not here, let me encourage you to get the CD or get on our website and listen to the message: Our Song, based on Exodus 15:1-21.

God’s grace is showered upon us, just like it was on Israel, over and over and over again. But, it doesn’t end there. With God’s great blessings and grace, there is responsibility on our part to respond to God rightly. We see it here, in:

Exodus 15:25,26 – “…there the LORD made for them a statue and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statues, I will put no one of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

The statue and rule was that they would keep, faithfully, what He had laid out for them: The Passover celebration, feast of unleavened Bread, and the consecration of the firstborn, and whatever he reveals later. If they do that, God would continue to be their healer. He had already been their healer, by judging the people, land and animals of Egypt with disease but none of the nation of Israel. If they obeyed, He would keep His part of the covenant as well.

Just before the people were going to enter the promised land 40 years later, Moses reminded them of this covenant agreement:

Deuteronomy 7:12-15 – “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your father. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.”

The basic principle God laid out was: If you obey, you will receive blessings; but if you disobey, you will be cursed. They would not fully keep their part of the covenant, and so there would be times that God would judge His people, bringing sickness and disease among them. But, His Word revealed to His people what the expectations were. And it is no different today:

6. We are reminded of God’s Word

Exodus 15:27 – “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.”

God had provided the water they needed; and then He asked them to remember their promises: to humbly obey Him. This completes the cycle that the people went through, constantly, it seems. Perhaps, you were able to identify with some of this as well. The fact is: we also have God’s Word, revealed to us. It tells us about the responsibilities we have to humbly obey Him. Regardless of our circumstances, He tells us exactly what He wants us to do, as we follow Him. And just like with the people of Israel, in that day…

· We have a choice to make

When we find ourselves in less than comfortable circumstances, we can grumble and complain and blame God and others. Or, we can put it in God’s hands, try to see it God’s way; and praise God for all He has done and for who He is. We can choose to see our difficult circumstance as the prophet Habakkuk did and as he encouraged God’s people to do:

Habakkuk 3:17,18 – “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

He said: even if everything that seems to be needed to sustain life goes away, I will still praise God, for who He is and what He has done. You can do the same. And do you understand just how important, how crucial to the mission that God has given us, is learning to praise rather than grumble or complain. God made it clear why, we in the church, should not be doing this:

Philippians 2:14,15 – “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

God ties this in to our witness to an outside world that is without Jesus Christ. We must not grumble and complain because to do so is to misrepresent Jesus Christ and to be just like the world is without Christ. Instead we are to shine as lights in this world, praising God and thanking Him…trusting in Him…regardless of our circumstances.

Let me close by pointing your attention to your own personal complaint zapper, just in case. I have given this list to you before, but I think it is appropriate to remind you of it today. When you begin to get that grumbling feeling, for whatever reason, and you are tempted to complain, take out this list attached to your outline, entitled: In Christ…and read it, over and over and over again. Taking some time to consider all the blessings that come from knowing Jesus Christ can put your particular complaint in the right perspective, and hopefully turn your problem into praise. Let’s pray.