Romans 1:21 (NKJV) 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
We are looking at the importance of a thankful heart. The above scripture reveals that unthankfulness is a type of cancerous state of being, especially for those who know God. This verse describes a people who, though they do know him, do not treat him as God. The reason was that they did not give him thanks.
Grumbling or complaining are the opposite of giving thanks. Last time we looked at the first of four types of grumbling that Israel fell into in the wilderness. I think they tend to be at the heart of what robs thankfulness today. As we recognize them, it will be easier to attack them with the power of thanksgiving. The first one is the “why grumble.”
We all fall into this at times. In Exodus 14:10-12, Israel fell into it because they were faced with an impossible situation. The Egyptian army was behind them ready to destroy them, and the Red Sea blocked their way forward. They began to ask Moses why. “Why did you bring us out here? Why didn’t you just leave us alone. Why, why, why.” We might say it this way, “God it is not fair.” We may ask why because we feel we need to understand. God will let you know what you need to know when you need to know it, but we must allow our trust in him to be more important that our need to know.
Whatever the reason we ask why, when we let it override our thanksgiving it will cause us to forget what God has done in our lives. Israel had lived in a horrible situation for hundreds of years. God did some of the mightiest miracles in the Bible to get them out. Instead of asking why are we facing the current trouble, we might want to ask, “Why did you love me so much to take care of me so long?” Had Israel done that, they would have entered the promised land a whole generation earlier.
Let us get to grumble number 2. We find it in Exodus 15:23-24.
Exodus 15:23-24 (NKJV) 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
The people of Israel had watched God do another mighty miracle in the Red Sea. In the next chapter they come to a spring. The water in the spring was bitter. There is no indication it was poisoned or undrinkable. It just tasted bad. Earlier in this very chapter they were singing songs to Moses about how he had delivered them. When they find out the next waterhole had water that did not taste good, they began to grumble again. I like to call this grumble the entitlement grumble. This one is very prevalent in our day. It is all over the news, but if we are not careful, we will fall into the trap as well.
What were they really saying? “This is just not good enough. We deserve better!” Maybe you have never said those kinds of things, but I have to admit that I have. Some of us have a very strong sense of justice. I am like that. If something is not right, it is not right. It that becomes a sense that I am entitled to more just because, than I will become unthankful. I will be dissatisfied with what God has given me. When that happens, nothing will be good enough for me. How do we deal with this grumble?
I can only tell you what God told me. “Who do you think you are?” If God gives you something it is the best for you at the time. Sometimes it is because we are not in the right place, either spiritually or physically to receive more. Sometimes what we get is what God knows we need even if we do not think so. If we want to stop this grumble in its tracks, begin to thank God for the thing you want to think is not good enough for you. There is a law in economics which works in other things as well. What we devalue becomes less in our eyes and what we appreciate becomes greater in value. When the “I deserve better” grumble tries to get a hold on you, apply the rule of appreciation with thanksgiving and see what happens.
The next grumble came in the next chapter.
Exodus 16:2-3 (NKJV) 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
They found themselves in a wilderness and there was no food. We might want to be hard on them, but if we found ourselves in this situation, would we do any better? They began to panic. “How are we going to eat? How are we going to feed our children? We could die out here. What kind of a leader are you, Moses!”
I have found myself in panic mode and so have you. When we begin to give voice to the panic it becomes grumbling. I thank God all the time for my wife. I admit that I can sometimes give in to panic. My wife has never met a crisis. There have been very few times in our 49 years of marriage that I have even seen her express fear. I am not saying that she does not feel it. I am saying that she almost never expresses it.
We may have very real reasons to panic. Things may look bad, but my wife tends to naturally remember what I sometimes forget. God has never failed us, and he never will. We like to say, “What if has never happened. It looked like it would sometimes, but in the end, God took care of us”. Certainly, that was Israel’s experience as they followed Moses.
What should they have done to get passed the panic so it did not become a complaint? They should have begun to thank God first and foremost for the miracles they had seen. They should have thanked Moses for being the channel of God’s power. The more they, and we, give thanks to God for what he has done, the more we begin to remember that he has not become something less than what he has always been. The panic grumble stops.
Numbers 11:4-6 (NKJV) 4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”
Here we see the last grumble we tend to allow rob us of thanksgiving. “Remember how good it used to be?” I do not really want to admit this, but at 67, I am more and more susceptible to this one. Sometimes there are things that really were better in the past. The problem is that they are in the past. The other thing we need to ask is, “Were they really better?” We can tend to forget the reality of the past when we are comparing it to something we do not like in the present. Whether good or bad we are here today.
How do we stop this grumble? Thank God for today. Find something good now. He is still God in your life. He is still able to do all he ever said he would do. If things need to be restored, giving thanks for today is the best way to get there. If you or I need to change, the best way for that to happen is to give thanks for today. If we do, God can use us today. If not, we will pine for “the good old days” and they will keep us from the good new day.
Let us take the opportunity on Thanksgiving Day, and the whole holiday season, to root out the “grumbles with Thanksgiving to God for all he has done for us even in this crazy year.
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