THE DANGER OF MURMURING AND COMPLAINING

Message given by Robert Heidler at Glory of Zion Outreach Center, 6/9/02

Two weeks ago Chuck Pierce gave us a prophetic word that we are in a 40-day period of testing to bring
us into POWER. This testing is similar to what Israel went through in the wilderness as they moved from Egypt
toward the Promised Land.
As we go through this time of testing we need to understand what it takes to make it through testing and
into God’s promise. To see that we want to look at two passages. The first is Num. 11:1, “Now the people
became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord. And when the Lord heard it His anger
was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them.”
The second passage is from 1 Cor. 10:6-11: “Now these things happened as examples for us that we
should not try the Lord as some of them did. Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed
by the destroyer.”
These verses give a major key to walking in faith. Before we look at these verses, however, we need to
see the goal of our warfare. A lot of us get into warfare when we face needs. We battle for a breakthrough in
finances, for a new job, for revival, deliverance, physical healing, and for the salvation of loved ones. But if we
think our battle is for these things, we don’t understand the battle. In reality we are not in battle for any of these
things. Our real battle is a battle for only one thing and that is FAITH.
The Bible says faith is the one essential. If we have faith nothing is impossible, and nothing is withheld.
No matter what we need, if we can get in faith and stay in faith, EVERY need will be met. So when we face
needs, our battle is to stay in faith.
But staying in faith does require a battle! Last week we saw two of Satin’s weapons against you in the that
battle. They are FEAR and DOUBT. Satan comes against you in fear and doubt to try to destroy your faith.
Satan can defeat you through fear and doubt, but there is an even greater danger to your faith than these attacks
of Satan. Many times Satan doesn’t have to work very hard to destroy our faith, because we do so well at
destroying our own faith! The primary way most of us destroy our faith is by murmuring and complaining.
When Chuck gave his message about this 40-day period of testing, he said this: “The greatest snare in the
wilderness is murmuring and complaining over your present position before you reach the place God has for you.”
We see that with Israel. From the time they came out of Egypt they murmured and complained continually. Every
situation they came into, every testing they faced…their one response was to murmur and complain! And that
was ultimately what kept them out of the promised land!

The Definition of Complaining

What is murmuring and complaining? I like to define it this way: Murmuring and complaining is the
repeated voicing of your dissatisfaction over the situation God has placed you in.
Murmuring and complaining can come from several sources. Sometimes complaining comes from self-
pity. You’re feeling bad. You want to sit and lick your wounds and feel sorry for yourself, so you repeat all of the
woes that have beset you.
Sometimes complaining comes from a desire for sympathy. You describe your difficult situation to
anyone who will listen because you want someone to come over and pat you on the head and say “Oh, you poor
thing!” We think sympathy will make us feel better, but it’s only a temporary fix. The problem is still there.
Sometimes complaining comes from anger and bitterness. You’ve prayed and are still having the
problem and you get angry with God. You want to tell someone how angry you are about the situation you are in,
so you repeatedly voice the problem.
But whether our complaining is from self-pity, or a desire for sympathy, or from a heart of bitterness,
murmuring and complaining ALWAYS come from unbelief! There is no complaint that rises from a heart of
faith! Whenever there is complaining, we can be sure that faith is no longer present.
The Danger of Complaining

A lot of us don’t look at murmuring and complaining as something bad. For a lot of us, it’s our favorite
pastime. We get together with our friends and say, “Let me tell you what has happened to me!” Then they say, “I
can top that! Wait till you hear what happened to me!” And you sit there and have a pity party!
We don’t think of it as wrong. We think of it as normal. But God wants us to know that He hates
murmuring and complaining! He does not take it lightly. In preparing for this message, I was appalled to read
what God has to say about complaining. Numbers 11:1 says “Now the people became like those who complain
of adversity in the hearing of the Lord and when the Lord heard it His anger was kindled…” God says He
doesn’t like it when we complain. He gets angry!
In Numbers 14, God says “How long will I bear with this evil congregation…I have heard the complaints
that they are making against me.”
I Cor. 10 says, “Now these things happened as examples for us that we should not…complain as some of
them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer.
In Hebrews 3, God warns us, “Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me in the day of trial in
the wilderness…Take care brethren, lest there should be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart.” Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. When complaining comes out of your mouth, it means there is
unbelief in your heart.

Philippians 2:14-16 “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst f a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine
as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in
vain, neither labored in vain.”

Why Complaining is Dangerous

The Bible reveals that complaining is dangerous for at least four reasons:
1. Complaining cuts off your vision for the future. Jesus did not murmur and complain on the cross,
because His eyes fixed on the outcome…” for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross and despised
the shame.” You don’t complain in the wilderness if your eyes are on the promised land! Our problem is
that Satan tells us that there is no way out of the wilderness! Satan tells us “You will die in the wilderness,
there’s no way out!” God says, “Follow me! I have a promised land for you!” And you get to choose who
you’re going to agree with! When you complain you are agreeing with the devil that your future is cut off.
2. Complaining is dangerous because it causes you to doubt God’s goodness for the present. When
you complain you are saying, “God, I don’t like the route you have mapped for my life.” Romans 8:28
teaches that God has a route planned for your life. All of the things on that route—even those that are not
fun—are designed by God to work together for your good. When you complain, you are saying, God, I
don’t like this route. I don’t think you’ve done a good job.” Murmuring and complaining is an accusation
against God that His plan for you is not a good plan.
3. Complaining causes unbelief to deepen and grow. The Lord told me something awhile back. He said,
“Unbelief is like a seed, if you water it, it will grow.” Every time you complain you are watering your
unbelief.
Have you ever been underwater? What happens when you are underwater and you open your mouth
real wide? Water comes in! In the same way, when you open your mouth to complain, unbelief floods in.
If you are having a hard time walking in faith and you open your mouth to complain, you have just lost the
battle. When you open your mouth to complain, you open yourself to be flooded by unbelief. Sometimes
the best thing you can do to stay in faith is just to shut your mouth!
4. Murmuring and complaining invites greater adversity. Some of you have gotten in a cycle that gets
worse and worse! You’re in adversity and you complain, and the result is more adversity. To murmur and
complain is to put yourself under a curse. Let me prove from the Scriptures. What was Israel’s complaint
in the wilderness? They said, “We are going to die in the wilderness!” That was not God’s promise. God
 had promised to get them to the promise land. But over and over they said, “you brought us out to die in
the wilderness.”
Do you know what God finally said to the Israelites? In Numbers 14:27-29, the Lord said, “I have heard the
complaints that they are making. Say to them, Just as you have spoken so I will surely do to you. Your
corpses surely shall fall in this wilderness.”

The Alternative to Complaining

What is the alternative to complaining? Some of us have gotten so used to complaining when we’re not
happy it’s hard to think of what else to do. What can you do in the wilderness but complain? Isaiah 61 gives the
answer. We can put on a mantle of praise. A mantle is like a cape or a topcoat. It is something you choose to
put on. And you can choose to put it on in any situation.
I think the best example is Paul in Philippi. God gave Paul a vision and told him to go to Philippi. He got
there and after a brief time of ministry was arrested, his robes were torn off and he was publicly beaten with rods.
They struck him with many blows, then he was thrown in prison and his feet were put in stocks. The stocks were
a method of torture. First they beat him until his back was bruised and bleeding, then they laid him on his back
and put his feet in stocks so he had to spend the night laying on his back in pain.
Paul was publicly humiliated, beaten, and tortured. Yet he had done nothing wrong. This treatment was
not only unfair, it was illegal. That punishment was so humiliating Rome did not permit a Roman citizen be
treated that way. Yet they did it to Paul anyhow. If you were lying on a hard wooden palate in excruciating pain,
having been humiliated, beaten, treated unfairly and illegally, how would you respond? Paul’s response was to
sing praise.
Do you imagine Paul felt full of praise at the moment? Not at all. I believe Paul said, “I’m going to put on
my mantle of praise! I feel miserable, I cannot sleep because of the pain, but I’m going to fill this cell with the
praise of God!” You can choose to do that also! Praise is your shield against unbelief. Praise guards you against
complaining. If you feel like complaining, you can praise instead. If there is praise coming out of your mouth,
there is no room for complaining.
How can we praise God in the wilderness? When everything is miserable what do you find to praise God
for? I would like to suggest four things you can always praise God for, even in the wilderness…

1) Adversity is an opportunity to learn NEW PRAISE. Linda and I have found this to be true on mission
trips. On our first trip to Ukraine, Linda went into the bathroom to wash her face, and got her face all
soapy…and the water stopped coming out of the faucet! No water to rinse her face. Linda learned new
praise. After that, when she turned the faucet on and water came out, it was something to praise God for!
There are many things we take for granted and never praise God for until we don’t have them. Learn new
praise in the wilderness.

2) You can praise God for His goodness. Even when God has you in the wilderness there are blessing to
praise Him for. When Israel was in the wilderness they got manna…bread from heaven every day. Their
shoes did not wear out for forty years. They saw the visible Shekinah glory of God leading them as a
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night! God’s goodness is not cut off in the wilderness. Take
your eyes off of the discomfort and look around…you will find things you can praise Him for.

3) You can praise God for His presence. No matter what wilderness you are in God is in it with you. His
presence is there. I remember years ago my back was out for a month. I was flat on my back. I could not
move without excruciating pain. I would just sit there and hold the Bible over my head and read…and the
presence of God would come down. I had some of the closest times with the Lord I’ve had in my life.
When you are in the wilderness God is there to meet with you. Begin to praise Him for His presence.

4) You can praise God for the outcome. No matter what wilderness you are in. God has a promised
outcome. God has a plan for you through that wilderness, and it is a plan to take you into a place of
promise. God says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord. “Plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” God always has a promised
outcome. When you are in the midst of the test, you can say, “Lord, I praise You! I thank you for this
opportunity to trust You. Lord, I thank you for the outcome, for the promise you will bring me into as I go
through this testing!” As you choose to praise instead of complain, unbelief is cut off. You are enabled to
rise up in faith to receive the promise!