Can I see a show of hands for all the grumblers out there? My hand is right up there with you. Prepare yourself. The official definition of grumbling is persuasive… “expressing a complaint in a bad-tempered way.” Ouch! That doesn’t sound very Christ-like.
Let’s take it a step further. How many of you don’t mind waiting, especially when the waiting is difficult and emotionally draining? I think we’d be hard-pressed to find very many who are content with the wait. In fact, it’s probably pretty standard for people to see themselves grumbling when they are in the wilderness of waiting. It certainly can be a frustrating place to be.
I recently just entered a personally frustrating waiting season. Interestingly enough, on the heels of a .,//very challenging 18-month season, God granted a fantastic victory for our family that exceeded all our expectations! In fact. My situation happened the day before our family’s triumph.
A little backstory… I LOVE to be out walking in the woods, ESPECIALLY in the Fall. It boosts my mental health and makes me happy. Welp, those walks have now come to a screeching halt because I broke my ankle and foot. I am currently in a boot waiting for further work-up by an orthopedist to find out how serious this is and how long I’ll be limited in my mobility. Knowing it will probably be at least six weeks, I went right into grumbling. I was so angry and frustrated that this even happened. In fact, I let the grumbling steal the incredible joy I should’ve been feeling over what God did for our family to deliver us out of the last waiting season. And when I tell you what He did was nothing short of a miracle, it was!
Have you ever found yourself there? Back-to-back waiting seasons, which made you ungrateful for the victory and ending of one, because you entered right into another time of waiting? Let alone the fact that, for me anyway, how quickly I was forgetting the lessons I learned in the last 18 months when everything ended up working out amazingly! I was so mad at myself for allowing the “what ifs” and fear to take over during that time of waiting, instead of trusting that God would accomplish all that concerned me. Worse yet, I grumbled as to why we had to wait so long while we were in the thick of it. Only later to find out that it had to take that long for certain circumstances to come into play that would change the trajectory of the outcome to EXACTLY what we hoped and prayed for. Indeed, God’s ways are perfect.
Does grumbling in the wilderness sound familiar to you? Let’s take a look at the famous Biblical grumblers, the Israelites…
Then all the congregation lifted their voices and cried, and the people wept that
night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and 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! “Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt… The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? “I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they… So the LORD said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD. “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.” Numbers 14: 1-4; 11-12; 20-23
Here we see a warning from the Lord about the cost of grumbling. He does not take it kindly. Let’s practically apply this warning to our wilderness-weary hearts so that sin does not grow in the “waiting room”
What happens when waiting becomes wandering
With my whole heart, I have sought you. Don't let me wander from your commandments. Psalm 119:10
The Israelites were literally kept wandering in the desert because of their grumbling. Instead of keeping their eyes focused on the promised destination, they were looking back to the bondage from which they had come, longing for that instead of trusting the Lord to make good on His promise and to lead them safely to the Promised Land.
Indeed, we can wander in the “proverbial desert of our mind”. All the what-ifs, fears, and worries take over our thoughts while we wait. This is especially true in situations of health concerns, when you are waiting for test results. You might have been unemployed for a very long time, and the bills are piling up; you find yourself still waiting for a break to get a job. Any number of circumstances can cause our what-ifs to loom large and distract us from where our hearts should be focused…
The next time you find yourself waiting, check your heart for any wandering thoughts. "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" 2 Corinthians 10:5 The Lord is not going to have us wait to destroy us. Still, he has placed us in the wilderness of waiting so that we rely on Him wholly. Continually seek the Lord with your whole heart and do not wander from His commandments. Remember to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight". Proverbs 3:5-6
A restless heart can miss God’s greater plan.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" Isaiah 55:8-9
As I mentioned earlier, our family has just come out of a tough waiting season. So much so that I have to remind myself it’s actually over. The Lord handed us the victory. He took away ALL of our troubles and fears. Please, please learn from me! Do not become restless in the wait to the point that it affects your emotional and physical health, where you are so focused on the wilderness that you forget that God is Sovereign and NOTHING will happen outside of HIS will.
When it was all finally over and we could rejoice in the triumph, I thought to myself, “Huh, the wait was actually the blessing!” We could see from the rearview mirror that these circumstances had to be drawn out as they were, because without the delay, the blessing would not have occurred.
What do they say, hindsight is 20/20. Well, we have to put our eternal glasses on. Although we might not know the outcome or the reason for the wait, the infinite perspective from our verse above will remind us that God’s ways are not our ways and that He accomplishes ALL things perfectly.
The next time your heart becomes restless in the wait, remember that God’s plans are ALWAYS for your good. Even when it doesn’t make sense, the Lord will NEVER forsake you.
Don’t let delay destroy your devotion.
"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Habakkuk 2:3
Throughout our family’s recent wilderness wait, we especially clung to the Lord. We did not allow the circumstances to sow doubt in God’s love for us. Unfortunately, though, for me anyway, I struggled with wondering, “I know God can do this, but will he??” We don’t honestly know God’s will, and as such, I didn’t want to presume I knew it. But the lesson I’ve learned here is that I need to pray with presumption. I need to declare that God will do it boldly!
Yet I know some will abandon God in the wait. Becoming so discouraged, their devotion to the Lord is destroyed. They’ve been through so much in life. They had done everything they felt the Lord would have them do, but still, the answer came back negative. The attitude of “what’s the use of praying?” takes over, and the chasm between the person and the Lord grows to the point of bitterness.
Instead, when the wait is making you particularly weary, you must continue to draw close to the Lord. You must cling to His promises. Not only cling, but claim! I love our verse from Habakkuk. It reminds us that it WILL NOT lie though it tarry. So don’t create lies in your head that are not the Truth. Instead, be in the Word constantly. Seek the Holy Spirit’s comfort in the wait. You are promised the answer will come at its appointed time. It will surely come. Remember God’s timing is not OUR timing. What may seem like tarrying to us is not at all tarrying to the Lord, and in fact, the answer comes right at the exact ordained time.
Dear Lord, help us to counter our grumbling with gratitude, trusting the Lord and His purposes while we wait.
In what areas of your wait are you struggling?
Which of the above could help you as you wait?
