The Sin of Grumbling.

Then they despised the pleasant land;

they did not believe in His word,

but grumbled in their tents;

They did not listen to the voice of the Lord,

therefore He swore to them,

that He would cast them down in the wilderness,

and that He would cast their seed among the nations. Psalm 106:24-27 NASB

     It is easy to get into the habit of grumbling and complaining about the various twists and turns of life that befall us. It is just as easy to downplay it as no big deal. In fact, many of us perhaps are not even aware that we are complainers! But it is a big deal, and instead of downplaying it, we should take a careful look at ourselves to see if we are guilty of this sin, and then forsake it.

     Look at the above verse, and you can see what preceded the grumbling mentioned. God had promised the nation of Israel the land of Canaan. He would go before them and give it to them. They only had to go in and take it. It was a pleasant land with all they needed. The bible describes it as a land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27). However when they learned that the land was inhabited by giants, they were afraid, and began to weep and grumble.

     This verse tells us that they despised the pleasant land. It did not mean anything to them; they no longer desired it, in fact they preferred to return to the hard life of slavery that they had lived back in Egypt. They also did not believe the word of the Lord; that He would give them this land. They did not believe that they could take this land in His strength. And in this unbelief, they refused to obey Him, in going forward to possess the promised land. Instead, they spent the night, in their tents, weeping and grumbling about the entire situation.

     Let this be a warning to us today. It is no small matter to grumble and complain about the things we go through. It only shows our lack of faith in God. In fact, it exposes our unbelief; it is a good indicator that we do not take the word of God seriously. We may say we believe His promises to us; we may say we are willing to obey Him at all cost, but if we grumble instead of acting upon His word, we are deceived.