murmurers

They murmured in their tents,

and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

Psalm 106:25

“Murmur” is one of those words that sounds as bad as it is. Mmmmmuuuurrrmmmmuuurrr. It sounds like the threatening hum of a crowd ready to riot. You can hear the subtle rebellion in the complaining of a murmur. The clearest context to understand the historical heart rebellion behind Israel’s murmuring as described in this psalm is found in Numbers 14:2-4. There, after getting a faithless, pessimistic report from a majority of the spies sent to gather intelligence on Canaan so that Israel can take possession of God’s promise, the Israelites threaten to find another leader and hike right back to live in slavery in Egypt. Murmuring was rebellion against God and the authority that God had sovereignly placed over the people.

Situational complaining is an art form and almost a “right” for most of us today. We are all opinionated consumers who expect to get what we want, when we want it, how we want it, and will post the pictures immediately when we do or we don’t get this! We read crowd-sourced reviews like they are scripture, empowering every person with a smartphone, including ourselves, to be a trusted critic. All the while we casually dismiss that God’s common grace is the source of all we have in this life! We may think Amazon and Walmart are the greatest providers of all we need in our lives as we sojourn upon earth, but this is just not the case. God is our sovereign. And we don’t get to review His providence in order to get better customer service.

Lord,

I sense in my own heart a tendency to murmur against Your good grace. I tend to see You as the purveyor at the drive-up window, ready with my fast food, but hardly view You as my Lord. I want to critique every experience, hoping all my days are filled with “likes”, 5 star rated service, and instant delivery of what I see and want. I am a dreadful consumer of everything,,, including pop religion... more than a dedicated follower of Jesus, Who did not have a home! If this persists in me, I have no doubt that You will put me in some wilderness so that I might be forced to know I can only trust by faith in You alone. And may I be thankful, worshipful, and obedient... all of which are the opposite of murmuring!

Amen