From Complaining
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Seeking Change In My Attitudes |
From Complaining
Numbers 14:1-9 (ESV)
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8 If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”
I recently read this story about a grocery store owner who overheard a young boy using the pay phone at the entrance of his store. Of course, in telephone conversations, you usually hear only one side of the conversation. The young boy was talking, and the store manager was listening,
“Hello, sir, I was calling you to see if you could use a lawn boy to do your yard work!” “Oh, I see, you already have one!” “Well, is he doing your work to your satisfaction?”
“He is! Thank you sir, I was just checking.” Then the young boy hung up the phone. The grocery store owner looked at the boy and said, “Sorry you didn’t get the job!” “Oh, no sir,” said the boy. “I’ve already got that job. I was just calling to check up on myself!”
As followers of Jesus Christ, it would also benefit us enormously if we regularly self-evaluate how we are doing, especially in terms of our attitudes in life. I’m sure we all have heard the familiar adage, “Attitude determines altitude.” If we believe this saying is accurate, we must ensure that we actively address some of our attitudes that will keep us from experiencing God’s fullest blessings.
This need is what we would like to tackle with our sermon series for the next 10 Sundays. Our overall theme is: Seeking Change in My Attitudes. I know the sound of us talking about change is always uncomfortable because we usually resist change. Honestly, many people would like to see change, but they want it on others, not themselves. The problem is we may have some attitudes that have been hurting us. The Bible is filled with examples where God addresses some of the wrong attitudes of His people. So, we will try to study those examples together. However, we won’t stop there. We also want to recommend the right attitude we should have to replace the wrong one. For example, this morning, we will study complaining as the wrong attitude. Next Sunday, our theme will be thanking, which is the right attitude we need to live out. So, the two Sundays should be considered as one sermon.
What are attitudes? In psychology, an attitude is our evaluation or feeling about a person, an object, an idea, or an event. They are formed over a long period of time. Therefore, it is always difficult to change them in a day. However, once we are willing to acknowledge that we have the wrong ones, we should also be prepared to begin working to make them right. I hope we can maintain this mindset throughout the 10 Sundays we are going through our sermon series.
For this sermon, the wrong attitude we are studying is complaining. The background of our main text is the report of the 12 spies that came back to check out the Promised Land. After God delivered them from Egypt, Israel began their journey to conquer the Promised Land. However, when they reached Kadesh-Barnea, the people decided to send twelve men to check out how the land was and the people who were living there. The problem was that of the 12 spies, 10 came back with the evil reports, while 2 gave some excellent reports. Let’s read their report:
Numbers 13:25-31 (ESV)
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.
26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
Don’t miss the bad report that although the land was flowing with milk and honey (Not to be interpreted as flooding with milk and honey; but the land was suitable for raising cattle, sheep, and goats. The land is also filled with honey), but was dangerous and impossible to conquer because giants inhabit it. This report brought the complaints from the people. Now, let’s transition to chapter 14 and highlight three sections in the passage:
I THE UNGODLY REACTION TO GOD’S PLAN
When God delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt, His plan was not simply to free them from 400 years of suffering and oppression but to bring them to the Promised Land where they could become a mighty nation. However, the people forgot all about God's plan because of the negative report of the ten spies who said giants inhabited the land and there was no way they could conquer it. So they reacted hysterically, crying and complaining before the Lord:
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (vv.1-4)
Besides the crying in verse 1, verse 2 also says that the people also “grumbled.” This word is where we are getting our theme of complaining, which means to express dissatisfaction.
Reading these first four verses and seeing that these people went to Moses and Aaron and started complaining to them, even demanding that they be replaced immediately. I can’t help but sympathize with them. Remember, all they did was carry out everything God told them to do. But, the real sentiment in this passage is that the people accused God of not caring for their safety and well-being. This sentiment is plainly stated in verse 3 - Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.
How many of us have been guilty of doing the same thing? We often complain during our tough times and forget everything that God has done prior. At this point, Israel could have easily remembered the following:
All the ten major miracles in Egypt convinced Pharaoh to let them go.
The Egyptians let them leave with their gold, silver, precious jewels, and clothing (Ex. 12:35)
Guiding them with the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:17-22).
Deliverance from the Red Sea (Ex. 14)
Feeding them with Manna from heaven (Ex. 16)
Yet, in our sinfulness, we quickly forget God’s goodness and allow our fear to lead us to complain to God. However, we often miss seeing what Joshua and Caleb were fully aware of concerning this action, as seen in verse 9:
9 “Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”
Notice the first part of verse 9, according to Joshua and Caleb; their complaining is literally an act of rebellion against God. And so, we must be extra careful about our reaction toward God. If we are tempted to complain, we must stop and remember how God looks at it. Pastor Erwin Lutzer said:
“Complaining about our lot in life might seem quite innocent in itself, but God takes it personally.”
II THE UNSTABLE RELIANCE ON GOD’S PROMISES
The second section that we need to show from the passage is the sharp contrast between the faith of the people and the faith of four men – Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. Listen again to the words of these four men:
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8 If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”
After the people aired their complaints, these godly men were terrified of how they responded to God and tried convincing them that God was worthy of their trust. I love these four men who expressed their faith in God, saying that as long as God was delighting in them, He was able to protect them. We need to emphasize the words in verse 9, “they are bread for us.” This idiomatic expression simply means they will easily consume or defeat them. And then they added, “Their protection is removed from them.” The truth is that even if the people in Canaan were giants and looked formidable, they were still defenseless because God had already removed His hedge of protection from them. These four men understood the personal conviction that Paul shared in Romans 8:31 (ESV):
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Unfortunately, instead of faith, they allowed their fear to rule their hearts, and they forgot two essential truths about God:
Who is God to Them – their knowledge of God should have been the basis of their response to Him in their trying situation.
What God Promises to Do for Them – They should never forget that God can faithfully deliver all His promises to them as His people.
By the way, we must establish that Joshua and Caleb never denied the presence of the giants in Canaan. They know there were giants, but their faith in God allowed them to see that He is bigger and greater than those giants in Canaan.
Do you tend to see the problems more than the big God who can solve them? If you are unstable in your faith, consider how God saw the attitude of the people towards Him:
Numbers 14:11-12 (ESV)
11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
With these words, it is evident that their lack of faith did not sit well with God. If you analyze these words, God is clearly saying that they should have already seen Him as someone worthy of their trust by this time. And because they failed to trust Him, He has rejected them. This rejection leads me to my third point:
III THE UNAVOIDABLE REJECTION OF GOD’S PEOPLE
As I have shown earlier, God was offended by the people's attitude towards Him and communicated to Moses that He was rejecting them and would not allow them to inherit the Promised Land anymore. I trust that we see how dangerous it is to complain against God and waver with our faith in Him. There is no doubt that since they rejected Him, He is also rejecting them (Sowing and reaping principle).
Of course, God’s statement of disowning and disinheriting Israel would trouble Moses, so he interceded with God for Israel. You can read this intercession in Numbers 14:13-19 (ESV):
13 But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them,
14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. For you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say,
16 ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’
17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying,
18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
Notice that Moses’ appeal was not for the people's safety but on God's reputation before the pagan nations. So in a way, Moses was saying that He would be misrepresented before the pagan nations, so He should just forgive them.
How did God respond to Moses? Let’s read God’s response in Numbers 14:26-34 (ESV)
26 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.
28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you:
29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,
30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.
34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’
Indeed, God would forgive them (v.20). However, their complaints will result in the following:
Everyone who complained 20 years old and above will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
As they spied the land for 40 days, they will wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
God would allow all children and adults to suffer in the wilderness for 40 years.
God judged their murmurings and complaining. I trust all of us are aware that God has not changed. He will still judge complaining today. If you don’t believe me, check out what Paul reminded the Corinthians believers in 1 Corinthians 10:11 (ESV):
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
If you read this chapter from verse 1, the context is what happened in Numbers 13-14. Paul is saying all these events happened for our example and instruction. In other words, we need to take heed of their experience. In closing, if we are one of those who are maintaining this bad attitude of complaining, I trust that we will do our best to overcome it. We may not be in a physical wilderness, but God can allow us to be in a spiritual wilderness where our lives seem to be dry, empty, and just going in circles. The only way we can move away from it is by trusting the Lord more and stopping this attitude of complaints.
-Bishop Jeremiah Lepasana