A GRATEFUL PEOPLE

Can I pray for you in any way?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when He heard them His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.

Numbers 11:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Israelite people had only been traveling for three days from their camp near Mount Sinai when it started. And it wasn’t the first time.

What started?

We find the answer in verse 1 of Numbers, chapter 11 tells:

"Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord.”

Here we find the Israelites already engaged in complaining and grumbling over their circumstances. Yes, traveling wasn’t easy but God was with them and this was the same God who had delivered them from Egypt by parting the Red Sea and vanquishing the mighty Pharaoh and his army, the same God who sent them manna and quail from Heaven as well as water from a rock, the same God who, despite His almighty place of authority, blessed His people with a covenant promise to lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey.

Perhaps there could be no greater showing of disrespect and ingratitude than to now protest against their God, seemingly forgetting just how good He was to them. It shouldn’t be hard to understand why this didn’t sit well with Him at all.

For we read where the Lord’s anger became so “aroused” after hearing the grievances of His people that He sent fire which "burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."

Can you imagine this scene?

The people are standing around moaning and groaning about their situation when, all of a sudden, fire descends from the heavens and burns all around where they are. There’s no doubt that God was trying to get His people’s attention and send a message that He was not happy with them. There’s also no doubt that He showed great mercy despite the Israelites’ sinful behavior for the dispatched fire could have easily devoured every single complainer with surgical precision.

But that’s not what God did. Rather, He fired a fiery warning shot across the bow of His people and then watched to see how His people would respond.

Going back to our verses for today, we see where they did what any normal person would do. The scriptures tell is they “cried out to Moses", most assuredly hoping he would speak to God on their behalf and ask for His forgiveness and mercy.

Well, we read where Moses does pray to the Lord and when he did, "the fire died down". The people had been spared, at least this time.

At the heart of this scripture, we find the matter of complaining and we could throw whining, dissatisfaction, never being satisfied, and/or never being content into this general category.

When we look at the attitudes of a multitude of people today, it seems that they, like the Old Testament Israelites, have a short memory when it comes to all that God has done for them. For it’s easy to praise God when everything is going great but let some trial come upon someone and way too often they are ready to begin belly-aching about their misfortune.

Going to another Old Testament book, Lamentations, we find a great set of verses in chapter 3 that address this problem head on. There, we find the author asking the following questions:

"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”

“Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?”

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." Vv.38-40

As we read this verse, we’re reminded that difficulties are inevitable in life, especially given that we are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). We consistently live and act in ways that dishonor the very One we should be honoring, and yet we then expect Him to completely bless with complete, unfailing goodness. When that doesn’t happen, then we will start whining and complaining, even going as far as asserting our Lord doesn’t care about our situation.

Frankly, God expects better from us and we would be well served to live out this exhortation from the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the church in Philippi:

"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." Philippians 2:14-15

Later in this same letter, Paul encourages the Philippian believers to rejoice in the Lord always (4:4). Note that there’s no prerequisite needed for our rejoicing. Always means always, in good times and bad, not just some of the time but all of it.

Going to Paul’s letter to the Romans, we find him reinforcing and supporting the words to the Philippians. In chapter 5, he writes this:

"…we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Vv. 2-5

And then this in chapter 8 of the same letter:

"Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Vv. 17-18

These powerful words of scripture don’t encourage the reader to begin whining as soon as things begin to go wrong in life. Instead, they encourage them to see the blessings that come in our trials, to open their eyes to the way that God reveals His awesome purpose and will for them through life circumstances that mold and shape them into the people He wants them to be.

The scriptures are clear that our Lord doesn’t want us to be complainers but rather, a grateful people.

Friends, on this day before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, this message forces us to face some important questions for self reflection:

How do I respond to times when my life becomes hard and challenging?

Do I tend to whine and grumble about my circumstances or do I come to the Lord who has always brought be through the tough times and express my gratitude and praise?

My prayer today is that we will all be convicted by these scriptures and what God is saying to us through them, examining ourselves and making whatever change is needed to become more of a grateful people.

As I close, I’ll share with you some lyrics to a great song by one of my favorite Christian husband and wife music duos of all time, Watermark. The song is appropriately titled, "Grateful People", and I pray we might all live out these words in our hearts and minds.

It is time that we give you honor.

This is the day to give you all the praise that you deserve.

A Holy King, of everything.

Inhabit the praises of Your people.

Have we waited far too long to surrender?

Forgive us, oh God the years we failed to seek Your face.

Oh Lord, your mercy turns us into grateful people.

We can't seem to find the words...so take our lives that there might be enough to tell you how we’re grateful.

Lord, we are grateful

Yes, Lord, make us a grateful people, we pray.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.