As soon as I was ready to write today, the LORD was ready to give me what to write about. If there’s anything that is going on these days, it is that people are discontent and spend a lot of time murmuring. Do you know what? That doesn’t go over too well with God, no, not one bit. After all, He has blessed us so very abundantly, each and every one of us, and how do we show our appreciation? We MURMUR!


In Numbers chapter 13, Moses had sent out twelve spies to spy out the land of Canaan, which God said was their Promised Land, and they returned after forty days to report the land indeed was very rich and fruitful. And they brought back a cluster of grapes so big that it had to be borne by two men on a pole, NEVERTHELESS, the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites, and the Canaanites live there. Caleb told the people before Moses, LET US GO UP AT ONCE AND POSSESS IT, FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME IT!

It is written in Numbers 13:31-33,
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

There is always someone, often many, that see a half-full glass of water as half-empty. And what happens? They moan and groan and complain, such as is the case here. Of course, WE never do that, right?  Here the LORD had brought them right to their promised land, and gave them a preview of how glorious it was, and the half-empty glass crowd boo-hooed that there were giants in the land! BIG DEAL! Had not the LORD sent Israel out of Egypt with all their gold, and then parted the sea before them so they could cross on dry ground? Had the LORD not destroyed all Egypt’s army by letting the walls of water He had parted fall upon them and drown them all? There remained not ONE of Egypt’s army to pursue them. I mean, WHAT WAS THEIR PROBLEM, ANYWAY??

It picks up in Numbers 14:1-3, and it so happens Numbers 14:3 was the verse the LORD gave me for today’s article, so let’s proceed:
1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

And so, after all the LORD had already done for them, all they could do is murmur and complain. Were they not bearing with them all the gold the LORD gave them from Egypt? They couldn’t say, Oh, LORD, we’re so broke we can’t even pay attention! No, they had so much money, they could have BOUGHT the Promised Land, but NO, that wasn’t enough! Just like today’s generation, the complainers say the blessings of the LORD are NEVER enough. And the bellyaching, ungrateful generation of the Israelites ended up ALL dying in the wilderness, except for Caleb and Joshua. THEY went in and took their land, for they believed God, and were thankful for His blessings!

You know, two out of twelve is a pretty poor percentage of people who walked in the blessings of God. Here the LORD prepared a HUGE blessing for all of Israel, and the whiners blew it for all of them, except the ones who took God at His Word, and went in and took the land. And today is absolutely no different. God is offering YOU untold blessings today, but what are you doing? Are you murmuring that it’s too hard, that the obstacles are too big? Are the grasshoppers keeping you out of YOUR Promised Land? It wasn’t the giants that kept Israel out of the Promised Land, it was the GRASSHOPPERS, for Israel saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the stature of the people living there.

I guess they forgot how hordes of grasshoppers can strip a land naked, no matter how strong the people are that live in the land, they can’t stop them. God has ways to get our attention that we haven’t even thought of.

I remember as a kid, if I complained and threw a hissy-fit, my Dad would tell me to stop it, or he would GIVE me something to complain about. And he kept his word, yes indeedy! And if we keep on murmuring and complaining, we will soon be having something to REALLY complain about!

Today, instead of whining and murmuring and complaining of how hard you perceive things to be, get on your face and praise God and thank Him for giving you the Promised Land to live in with all these blessings! He could have just as easily let you be born in the middle of the Sahara Desert and told you to eat dirt, but He didn’t, did He? You’re in the Promised Land and you don’t even see it, do you? Why do you think half of the world is immigrating here? THEY see this as a land of milk and honey, and here you’re right smack in the middle of it, living a life 90% of the world only dreams of, and you’re complaining! STOP IT!

God can bless you or curse you, and it’s all according to how you show your gratitude to Him. Murmur like the Israelites did, and your glass will indeed be empty. Bless His Name and be thankful, and your glass will be so overflowing, that you’ll need to carry a mop with you everywhere to mop up the excess. It’s up to you! What will it be? God wants to bless you, but YOUR words and YOUR actions will determine how blessed you are. NO MORE MURMURING!