Grumbling in our tents

Your Cape Cod or ranch-style or little A-frame house is the equivalent of an ancient Jew’s tent. What goes on inside it is also equivalent to what went on in tents for time immemorial—and it is infinitely consequential. As part of his summary of life among believers in the B.C. era, God said:

“Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD” (Psalm 106:24–25, ESV).

You and I may not be inclined to put “murmuring” up there on a par with the sins of murder, theft, and sexual immorality. After all, what is “murmuring”? An online dictionary says: “A soft, indistinct sound made by a person or group of people speaking quietly or at a distance; to say something in a low, soft, or indistinct voice.” Even if you opt for the Bible translation “grumble,” how is that so awful: “complain or protest about something in a bad-tempered but typically muted way.”

But murmuring or grumbling—even in a “soft,” “indistinct,” or “muted” way—was enough in God’s eyes to provoke Him to litter the wilderness with His people’s dead bodies:

“Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness …” (Psalm 106:26, ESV).

“Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (1 Corinthians 10:5, ESV).

Indulging low-grade murmuring is a national pastime. We think it OK to go to church on Sunday and worship God and then at home in the privacy of our bedrooms and kitchens—our tents—to express “soft” and “indistinct” and “muted” complaints about this and that. The Beatles’ George Harrison once wrote a song called “I Me Mine” which went in part like this:

All through the day, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine. All through the night, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine. No one’s frightened of playing it, everyone’s saying it, flowing more freely than wine. All through the day, I me mine.

God does not take lightly our murmuring all through the day and all through the night, and the fact that “no one’s frightened of playing it, everyone’s saying it, flowing more freely than wine.”

And the only antidote I find to murmuring in the Scriptures is the conscious and deliberate resolution to start opening our mouths with praise:

“Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (Psalm 105:1–2, ESV).

It may feel strange and out of character at first to praise God every time you are tempted to emit a little grumble, because we are used to praising at church and casually grumbling at home. But praise and thanks are what we are called to do. And in no time at all these will come to feel like second nature.

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