Last Word: Grumbling

This month, British holiday giant Thomas Cook announced that it will close 21 stores and cut over 300 jobs. Given the current political and meteorological climate this is hardly surprising.

Indeed, I recently read an amusing article highlighting some of the complaints the travel agent had received over the years. They included the following gems: ‘On my holiday to Goa, India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry’; ‘I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends’ three-bedroom suite and ours was significantly smaller’; ‘The beach was too sandy’; and (perhaps the most British of all); ‘I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits’. I laughed out loud.

Nevertheless, as I reflected further, I was saddened to think of the Thomas Cook employee who had opened all of those emails or envelopes. Here was a company that (I trust) had sought the best for their customers as they flew them to the likes of Goa and Gran Canaria. Yet all they got was grumbling. The net result is that fewer are now jetting off to paradise.

Whistling?

In Numbers chapters 11-12 the scene is far worse. For God had promised Israel more than a five-star holiday. He had promised them new life in the Promised Land. Furthermore, he had guaranteed every-

thing for their journey – his presence, his provision, his protection. We might imagine God’s people whistling in the airport lounge. Yet what were the sounds that could be heard from the lips of God’s people on the runway? ‘Wailing’ (11:10), ‘Speaking up’ (11:28), ‘Talking against’ (12:1). And, ultimately, who were these complaints aimed at? They were aimed at their divine travel agent.

The Bible tells us that all grumbling makes God a miser. For grumbling refutes God’s kindness on the journey, and the goodness of the Promised Land to come. Grumbling, therefore, is serious. Yet we often do not see it as such. If you were asked to catalogue the most dangerous sins for the Christian – the main reasons for missing the Promised Land – what would you list? Sexual immorality? A love of money and material possessions? False teaching? Would seemingly innocent grumbling even make your list?

Modern murmuring

Today grumbling is almost perceived as more of a help than a hindrance. Social media is designed for public grousing. Modern psychology, meanwhile, tells us to regularly voice our most honest emotions along the wearisome journey of life. Hence, complaints of: ‘I have nothing to eat’ (when the fridge is full of food), ‘I have nothing to wear’ (when the wardrobe is full of clothes), and ‘I have no time’ (when the diary is packed with many activities), are rarely perceived as dangerous.

The devil’s music

In previous generations, however, Christians fought hard against this modern notion. The Puritan minister, Thomas Watson, wrote: ‘Our murmuring is the devil’s music’. They rightly saw that grumbling was a significant threat in this desert life. For grumbling is nothing more than the Christian’s soul singing: ‘God has not been good. He has not given me what I really need for the journey, and where he is taking me is worthy of complaint.’ Satan longs that we might play such music long and loud. For grumbling is the monotonous background noise that slowly drowns out the regular chimes of God’s goodness until eventually one is even deaf to the gong of the gospel.

Certainly, one must be careful here. God’s people may groan. After all we live in a sad and broken world. The Bible calls us to weep with one another (Romans 12:15). However, as we picture Israel on their way to the Promised Land, we are to perceive the danger of such grumbling today. For a sour heart is normally a heart that knows little of the fruits of the Spirit and the sweetness of deep contentment with God.

As I picture some of the godliest people I know, I note that they are not people with smiles ‘painted on,’ but they are people who are more often marked with a steady serenity than with a frequent frowning. They are Christians who are quick to speak of God’s blessings along the way rather than their exas-perations with societal breakdown or Brexit. They are Christians who speak more readily of heaven than of irritations on holiday.

‘Do not grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come’ (1 Corinthians 10:10-11).