Daily Devotions
Exodus
"Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one." Isaiah 44:8
Text: Exodus 16 : 3
THE DEADLY DANGER OF FEEDING THE SPIRIT OF COMPLAINING
There is only one effective way of dealing with the spirit of complaining! It must be starved to death! It must not be given an opportunity to feed! The dangers are very real indeed. Let us consider some of the more obvious dangers!
1. It is like a deadly contagious disease that spreads rapidly
The spirit of complaining may start with just a motley group of people! The unsatisfied ones would always find something or other to grouse about! “The whole congregation of the children of Israel complained…” (Exodus 16:2)! Imagine how many became infected with the spirit of complaining. In just a short while, the children of Israel had learned how to grumble and complain!
2. It will always find something to complain about!
Complainers can be a cantankerous lot! The following features will bear this statement out!
a) They will forget all that God has done!
The complainers had all but forgotten the mighty deeds that God had performed in Egypt! Not one reference was made to the miracles God wrought in Egypt!
b) They will forget much of what God had said
The Lord had already told them that He would be testing them! He wanted to prove the integrity of the hearts of the children of Israel! None of God’s words came to mind!
c) They will keep complaining, thinking that by agitation they will get their way!
They felt they had nothing to lose! They chose complaining as their means of expression! But why could there not have been a spirit of faith that expresses itself in prayer and supplication?
d) They will make up false accusations and present them as truths!
This is well evidenced in the following text!
“You have brought us out into this wilderness
to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
EXODUS 16:3
e) The stubbornness of the spirit of complaining
God had time and again stepped in with a special act of deliverance! But the spirit of complaining will remain and be resistant to the moving of the Spirit of God!
RESISTING THE SPIRIT OF COMPLAINING
It is of utmost importance that one resists the spirit of complaining aggressively!