Grumbling or Grateful?

October 11, 2020 | Proper 23 | Exodus 32:1-14 | The Rev. John Reese

It is comforting to know, I suppose, that 3,300 years ago, Moses had to deal with grumblers and complainers.  While he was up on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments, the people complained, wondering what was taking Moses so long up there.

It reminds me of the story of a lady who was a veritable fount of complaints. Her pastor came by to see her one day and she began to enumerate: “The neighbor’s children are so noisy . . . People at the church never come to see me . . . my arthritis is getting worse . . . the weather has been so terrible . . .” On and on she went with one complaint after another. Finally, she said, “But do you know, Pastor, I have had the worst headache all week, but suddenly while talking with you, it’s gone.”

The pastor sighed and said, “Oh, no. Your headache didn’t disappear. I have it now.”

Of course, pastors are not the only persons who have to put up with complainers. I have always felt sorry for football coaches. They have to put up with an amazing amount of grumbling from alumni, sportswriters and the average guy in the street.

I like what a former football coach, Chuck Mills, once said. He defined a spectator as a person “who sits forty rows up in the stands and wonders why a 17-year-old kid can’t hit another 17-year- old kid with a football from forty yards away . . . and then (that same spectator) goes out to the parking lot and can’t find his car.” Sports fans are notorious grumblers.

Married people also have to put up with complainers, don’t they . . . sometimes? One man had inscribed on his wife’s tombstone these words:

“Here lies my wife in earthy mould, who when she lived did naught but scold; good friends go softly in your walking . . . Lest she should wake and rise up talking.”

Of course, women have no corner on the complaint market. I dare say that a survey would show at least as many grouchy, grumbling men as women.

Moses had to put up with a whole nation of complainers. The Bible says the people were “murmuring.”

Have you ever heard people murmuring? We all have. John Galsworthy once described complainers like this: they are “always building dungeons in the air.”

The ironic thing is that often it is people who have the least to complain about who are the worst murmurers. There is something about having much that makes us feel we deserve more. True, the children of Israel were out in the wilderness, but at least they were free. At least they were headed toward their own homeland after spending centuries in slavery.

Even more importantly, consider the mighty acts of God that they had witnessed—the parting of the Red Sea and the Passover experience that had finally melted Pharaoh’s hardened heart. Still they grumbled, “What has God done for us today?”

I have known people like that, haven’t you? I have been like that myself at times, I must confess. What hope is there for us murmurers? Is there any cure for complaining?

First of all, it would help if we confessed our pettiness. Many of us simply do not have grounds for murmuring. We have been blessed far beyond what we could ever deserve.

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was a pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was America’s most successful fighter pilot in that terrible war. He also received the most awards for valor.

Eddie Rickenbacker was once asked what was the biggest lesson he learned after a crash at sea left him drifting about with his companions in life rafts for 21 days. “The biggest lesson I learned,” he said, “was that if you have all the fresh water you want to drink and all the food you need to eat, you ought never to complain about anything.”

Many of us know that. Deep in our hearts we are aware of our good fortune. This is not to say that things always go our way. In a Peanuts cartoon strip Charlie Brown is complaining that his ball team always loses. Lucy tries to console him. “Remember, Charlie Brown,” Lucy says, “you learn more from your defeats than you do from your victories.”

Charlie Brown replies, “That makes me the smartest man in the world.”

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of learning from my mistakes. I want to learn from doing things right! Life is filled with frustrations, aggravations, trials and tribulations. Life has many downers. We should not try to minimize that fact. Sometimes, however, we need to step back and put our lives into perspective. We need to count our many blessings and confess our pettiness.

We also need to acknowledge God’s provisions. The greatness of God is shown in His response to the people’s murmurings. Sometimes when our children seem ungrateful, we respond defensively. We’re angered by their attitude. We want them to see and appreciate all that we have done for them. Something boils within us when they shrug off our sacrifices as if we really should have done more. That is a human response to a lack of gratitude; it is not God’s response.

God heard the people murmuring and He responded graciously, as He always does. In the face of their grumbling and idol-making, he at first vows to destroy them. But when Moses implores God to relent and remember his promises, God changes his mind.

And the Lord provides for their needs during the long journey to the Promised Land. He gives them manna from heaven. They gathered the manna each morning and when it dried in the sun, they had a sticky solid food which was edible and nutritious.

God also provided quail. Every spring, we are told, flocks of birds cross the Red Sea on their way to the Sinai Peninsula, where they land exhausted near the coast and are easily caught. This is exactly how the Bible describes God’s provision of meat for the wilderness wandering.

God also provided water. Scholars tell us that many porous rocks in the desert contain water. God led Moses to such a rock at Rephidim. Moses struck the rock and out poured water adequate for the whole company.

I’m sure there were cynics among the Hebrews who sought to offer a rational explanation for the quails, the manna, the water from the rock, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. God has placed us in a world that must be seen through the eyes of faith.

When you had that bad accident and walked away unscathed, did you say, “Thank God!” or did you say, “Wow, I was lucky that time?”

Life is a matter of interpretation, but the person who sees the gracious hand of God at work is in far less danger of becoming a complainer than is the cynic who sees only random chance with no plan or purpose.

A story from the life of the English poet George Herbert is helpful. Herbert was a member of a small group of friends who met together to play musical instruments like a small orchestra.

One night on the way to a meeting of this group, Herbert passed a man whose cart was stuck in a muddy ditch. Herbert put his instrument aside and went to help the man. When the cart was finally out of the mud, Herbert was covered with sticky clay. When he arrived at the meeting, he explained his tardiness and his slovenly appearance.

One man said, “You have missed the music.”

George Herbert smiled. “Yes,” he said, “But I will have songs at midnight.”

People don’t grumble as much when gratefully and joyfully they give their lives to serving God and other people.

The children of Israel murmured just as you and I sometimes murmur. But God provided for their needs, just as He provides for our needs. God was at work in their lives. God is at work in our lives. So why are we murmuring? Isn’t it time we say, “Thank you”?

Sure, you might miss the music sometimes, but you can always have songs at midnight.