The Lord does not want any of us ignorant of how our forefathers were protected under His cloud and safely passed through the sea.  With many of those people following Moses, the Lord was not well pleased and consequently overthrew them in the wilderness.  These ancient events are examples for all of us today to help us to not make the mistakes the Israelites made.

Those that murmured in the wilderness were destroyed by the destroyer.  They were rendered useless and perished.  These events serve as an example of something we are not to embrace.

If we are to understand the seriousness of murmuring, we need to look to the Hebraic definition of the word.  “To murmur” in Hebrew is the word, לוּן (liyn) meaning to stop or stay permanently.

We should all ask ourselves this question.  “Do I feel stuck or feel as though I am in a spiritual place where I am not able to move forward?  Are my prayers being answered?”

We must examine ourselves.  Have we been so used to murmuring and complaining that we don’t even notice our words or their impact?

Murmuring is complaining, and complaining places us in the office of an accuser.  Satan is THE accuser of the brethren.  When we murmur and complain we enter the realm of darkness, in effect, coming into an unintentional alliance with the enemy.  According to the Apostle Paul in I Cor. 10:10, the murmurers were destroyed by the destroyer.  In complaining, we place ourselves in the place of being judged ourselves.

THE ANTIDOTE FOR MURMURING

The Lord wants our continual praise.  The way into His presence is through thanksgiving and praise (Ps. 95:2).  We are to offer the sacrifices of praise through our lips. (Heb. 13:15)

There is a ministry appointment to give thanks to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 31:2 “And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and TO GIVE THANKS, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord.”

Nehemiah 12:31 “Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate.”

Let the reversal begin!  Whenever we want to murmur or complain, may we instead begin thanking and praising.  Be consistent; expect the best.