Blessings for this New Year everyone! I have a challenge for you. This is a challenge that I am doing myself and I need your support! As we have crossed over into this new year, I have been aware of some mindsets and choices that will often keep us stuck in some old patterns and places. One of those unproductive patterns is complaining. The Israelites seemed to have it down to an art! But if we are honest, it tends to be easy to see the “half-empty” glass, rather than the portion that is full. So to start this year off with reinforcing a habit that is God-honoring, I ask you to join me in fasting for the whole month of January from complaining (of course, we don’t have to stop there). I believe this will allow us to align our hearts with gratitude and anticipation of the good things that God has planned for this year.
In Exodus 16 we find the Israelites in the second month of their deliverance from Egypt. And it says in verse 2 that the whole congregation were grumbling against Moses and Aaron.
And the sons of Israel said to them, “ Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (vs.3, NASB).
They had a legitimate need, but they had a serious issue with their recollection! When we operate in complaining, it tends to distort how we are remembering our experiences. They were reflecting on their time in Egypt as though they had a buffet every night, which is not an accurate memory. How many times out of need do we begin to miss the “good ole days” that were actually hard and painful? We begin to believe the enemy’s lies that we had it better in bondage than in the freedom that God is moving us into. This battle in our mind, is an attempt to keep us trapped in the old or at least delay our freedom for another season, or generation… That is exactly what happened to the Israelites. The generation that saw the miracles and lived with the daily presence and provision of God, chose to distrust God’s ability to fulfill His promises. We don’t realize how often our complaining joins our voice with the enemy’s voice rather than declaring the abundant faithfulness of God. We can be quick to judge the Israelites of dishonoring God with their complaining and attitudes, while our souls cry out with the same fleshly responses. Complaining never produces the healing that we all need. God has designed our lives to be focused on and wrapped around His presence.
Direct me, Yahweh, throughout my journey so I can experience your plans for my life. Escort me into your truth; take me by the hand and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation; I have wrapped by heart into yours all day long! (Psalms 25: 4-5, TPT)
So I am inviting you to join me in fasting from complaining this month, and feasting on the faithfulness of a loving Father, who knows what we need and has prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies with a cup that overflows! (Psalm 23)
Steps in Pursuit
- Prayerfully ask God to place hope and trust as your automatic default in every situation.
- Meditate on the goodness of God. Find passages like Psalm 23 and 25 and declare them over your life and your household.
- Rehearse saying daily out loud at least 5 things you are grateful for and offer up a sacrifice of praise!
As I have been writing this, a song from my childhood kept coming back to me. The song is Humbly Grateful and the words are:
Are you humbly grateful or grumbly hateful?
What’s your attitude?
Do you grumble and groan,
Or let it be known,
You’re grateful for all God’s done for you?
Continue the Pursuit,
Denise
