Avoid Criticism – Numbers 12: 1-16

Posted on January 20, 2026 by dkoop

Have you noticed that critics are all around us?
The restaurant critic
The movie critic
Monday morning quarterbacks
Political critics
It seems everyone has an opinion on everything.

I struggle with being critical and I’m sure you do as well.

Did you grow up in a home that was constantly picking on the imperfections of others and finding fault with everyone and everything? You may see criticism as a normal part of life.
Were you were criticized by friends or teachers and now that critical spirit is part of your life?
Do you find yourself caught up in criticism; not because you want to be critical, but because those you work with or socialize with those who are critical and you find yourself dragged into this attitude?
If you can relate to the above as I can, I hope you will join me and with God’s help seek to replace a critical attitude.

Let’s Define Criticism

Not all criticism is bad.
There is destructive and constructive criticism.
Constructive criticism is designed to help another person.
Hebrews 10:24 “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
The word spur carries with it the idea of stimulating a person on to greater growth, like good coaching.  Constructive Criticism is designed to make us better.

New members of our Teaching Team will practice their message before a group of people who give constructive feedback.  Each member must always be ready to receive evaluation or constructive criticism to improve.  On Wednesday’s and Sunday’s our Worship Team rehearses and there is always constructive criticism or evaluation to help each person improve.  Every ministry event or outreach event gets evaluated; not to tear it down, but to improve it.

If you are on the receiving end of some constructive criticism, from a team member or leader, be gracious with the person’s advice and be honored that they care enough to seek out your best interest.
The criticism we must avoid is the destructive type that is not intended to help but to harm.

Let’s look at a definition of negative criticism
Destructive Criticism: “dwelling upon the perceived faults of others with no view to their good.” 

  • Dwelling upon – Becoming preoccupied with the fault to the point that we internalize it. “I would not do this or that or if I were in charge things would be different!” This can be fueled by our pride.  Or by pointing out the failures of others we hope to take the pain out of our own sense of failure or self condemnation.   
  • Perceived faults – We can become very critical of others and be totally wrong in our opinion, simply because we do not have all the facts.
  • No view to their good– Not wanting to help the person but desiring to tear them down in front of someone else.

Let’s look at an example of How God deals with Negative Criticism

Numbers 12:1-2, While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” 

Note the Critics
Verse 1 says the Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses. Miriam and Aaron are the brother and sister of Moses.  Receiving criticism from others is hard, but it is more difficult when it comes from someone who is close to you.  There is a second item to note, the text lists Miriam’s name first implying she was the primary critic in this affair and Aaron was dragged in. That happens sometimes, one person starts to criticize and soon others are dragged into the feeding frenzy. One person’s mistake can affect others.

Significant issues hide under the cover of criticism: envy, jealousy, resentment or un-forgiveness.   Which of these cause you to be critical?

Note the response to the Critics
“But the Lord heard them. (Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth) So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle. Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?” The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. Numbers 12:3-9

Main ideas:

  • God hears our criticism.
  • It’s wrong to tear down someone else made in God’s image.
  • It’s wrong to attack the person God has called to do something for Him.
  • Criticism ruins our fellowship with God and with others.

I find it interesting that Moses did not answer his critics – verse 3 describes his humility, and part of his humility was placing his trust in the One who knew he was faithful. Moses typifies the life of Christ when he was facing the cross. Peter describe our Lord’s behavior at the cross this way – When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:23
The lesson for us when we are unjustly criticized is not to seek retribution but to trust in God who is faithful.  We are accountable to Him.
While Moses was silent, God was not. He challenged Miriam and Aaron stating that Moses was His chosen instrument at this time.

As we serve God our call is to be faithful to God and what he has called us to do and allow God to deal with the critics who do not understand what is going on in our life.

Criticism is handled
Note the remaining verses of our chapter
“As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her, he cried out to Moses, “Oh, Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed. So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!” Numbers 12:10-13

Miriam is struck with leprosy. In that culture, that was a death sentence. She would be forced to leave the camp; she would be considered a outcast with no hope of a cure. In short her life was over.  It is obvious that God takes destructive criticism very seriously.
Seeing her condition Aaron repents, and pleads for mercy. Moses does not hesitate to be merciful.  “So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!” Moses was following the advice that Paul would later tell the Romans Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21
God was faithful he heard the Prayer of Moses and healed Miriam, yet there were consequences to her actions, she was ostracized from the camp for a period of 7 days.

How do we avoid a critical attitude? There is only one attitude big enough to replace a critical attitude and that is the attitude of love.
Notice what Moses did that showed love:

  • He did not attack back.
  • He prayed for his attacker
  • He waited for her. “I know you are not where you need to be, but I’ll be patient and wait while God works in you.”

Love overcomes our critical attitude. Paul write’s “The Love Chapter” to a church that was facing all kinds of problems such as incestuous relationships, lawsuits among the members and drunkenness during communion to name a few.

Paul had started this church on one of his missionary journeys, so he felt responsible for these wayward converts. So the question is how would he handle this group?
Deliver a fire and brimstone sermon, “turn or burn you rotten scoundrels!”
He could have left them to their sinful ways and started a new church.
He could have simply told others about them and say this is an example of a bad church don’t be like them.
He could have sent his assistant Timothy or Titus to straighten them out, but he did none of these things. Instead he focused on a new attitude: Love.
He explains this new attitude in 1 Corinthians 13, (the love chapter.)  Most the time we read it at weddings and that is fitting because the context of the chapter is about how love changes us and our relationships.
Paul shows us that this attitude of love will transform us if we take it to heart and if we genuinely put it into practice.  With Christ’s help, we replace criticism with love.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Read Along Daily Bible Reading: You Version

Darrell

Posted in Numbers - Preparation for the Promise | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Avoid Coveting – Numbers 11: 4-34

Posted on January 13, 2026 by dkoop

Once upon time there were two store owners who were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival while the other was jealous. One night an angel appeared to one of the store owners in a dream and said, “I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?” The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, “Here is my request: Beat me half to death!

Jealousy and coveting can lead to an ugly end.

A true story: At the end of the Civil War. John Wilkes Booth, the man who killed Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theater was the brother of one of America’s most famous actors, Edwin Booth. John Wilkes Booth bitterly coveted the popularity of his brother. He knew there was a growing dislike for Abraham Lincoln in certain areas of the United States. So he killed the President, thinking to become a national hero. The assassination of this beloved man started with one covetous thought.

Maybe you don’t have a raging jealousy going on, but coveting can also be thought of as “Destination Disease.”  We think, “I can’t be happy right now. I will only be happy when…
“I get a new job, I get a new car, I get a new spouse, I get a raise, I move out on my own, I get married, I get divorced, I move to a different city, I get a better church, I go on vacation, I win the lottery, I pay off all my bills, My business takes off, My business slows down, I lose weight, I gain weight, I finally finish school, etc.”
Do you ever struggle with destination disease?  I do.

What does it mean to covet something? After all is it wrong to want nice things? The psalmist said God will give us the desires of our heart. When do the desires of our heart cross the line and become the craving of coveting?

According to author James McDonald, coveting can be defined in four ways…

  1. Coveting is; wanting the wrong things:
    Power over others, an illicit relationship or something that belongs to someone else.
  2. Coveting is; wanting the right things but for the wrong reason
    Wanting to be a leader, manager or boss but not to help people but to have control or my way and my agenda over others.
  3. Coveting is wanting the right things at the wrong time.
    A young couple comes into my office for premarital counseling, they love god and one another, they are committed to one another and plan to get married in 3 months – but they want to move in together now – they want the right things commitment to God and to one another but the timing is wrong, they need to wait until they are married to live together.
  4. Coveting is wanting the right things but the wrong amount
    Take money for example, money is not a wrong thing it is part of life – money causes us a problem when we love money to the point that we become obsessed with getting more and more money to the exclusion of building relationships with God and others. Coveting has a strong hold on people today, yet God’s word teaches us there is a way to escape the trap of coveting and live a life of contentment.

People have always struggled with coveting.  Nowhere is that more obvious than the children of Israel and their desert experience in Numbers chapter 11.

In the last post, we saw how their attitude of complaining caused God to discipline His people, now want us to look at another attitude of the Children of God were displaying; the attitude of coveting. I want us to consider asking God to change our covetous attitude to an attitude of contentment.
We need to look at the story and then discover the application.
This account reads like a three act drama, as the drama unfolds we can see the need to focus on an attitude of contentment.

Act 1 – Giving in to Wanting More

Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night. Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.
Numbers 11:4-10

Moses introduces us to a new group of people – the foreign rabble.  These were the people who left Egypt along with the Children of Israel. Having seen the complete devastation of Egypt this group wanted nothing to do with their homeland, so they joined Israel hoping for a better future.
Scripture says, “They began to crave the good things of Egypt”.

The inference is that not only was the rabble complaining but the children of Israel were drawn into their complaining as well. They had a selective memory; they remembered the good life of Egypt. Verse 5, “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted.”  Really?  As slaves they did not eat at the buffet line each night!

It seems they longed for the good old days – Mark Twain said, what makes the good old days the good old days is a bad memory.

Egypt was not a good place, Egypt was a place of bondage; it was a place of bricks and mortar – yet all they could see was the good things of Egypt – the things that would fill their physical appetites.
While Egypt provided bondage, God was providing deliverance, direction, a new life, water, food and purpose.
Each evening as the dew fell God was giving his people a bread-like substance which would sustain them thru their wilderness journey. Remember the trip was to only take a couple of months and soon they would be in a land flowing with milk and honey. The only thing God’s people would have to do is gather the manna each day and cook it – it would be enough to get them through the desert.
But the manna was not enough.
Verse 6, our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” God’s provision only brought about complaints. Everyday they had enough food, but they wanted something more. That is the bottom line of a covetous attitude – I want something more than I need!

The reason God is angry for us to have a covetous attitude is that we are saying to God, “you do not give me enough – I have needs and you are not taking care of me, so I want to look someplace else to have my needs met!”  For the children of Israel they wanted their needs met back in Egypt, for us we look to have our needs met by gathering things and possessions rather than seeking God.  The Root of Covetousness is a Rejection of God’s Sufficiency.

Act 1 closes out with a sober truth – verse 10, Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.
Because the people were unappreciative of God’s provision – scripture tells us, “The Lord became angry”, “extremely angry” If you have every tried to do something for someone and they show little or no gratitude you can understand God’s anger at this moment.

Act 2 – Getting what you do not want
Then the Lord said to Moses…”Say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” Numbers 11:16-20

Their request brought a dangerous reply.
Basically God said, “you want meat – I will give you meat, not just one day or two but you will have meat for 30 days. You will become sick of meat.”

He gave them what they wanted but it did not meet their need
Psalm 106 is a companion passage for this event listen to what verse 15 says, He gave them exactly what they asked for, but along with it they got an empty heart. or “He sent leanness into their soul”   Psalm 106:15 NKJV
With God we can be satisfied with what he provides for us but if we walk away from God’s provision we soon find ourselves empty.   We may end up loathing what we had to have. 

Nothing is essential, but God.
Things were never designed to take God’s place. When we covet something and make it essential – “I have got to have it”, we are saying to God there is something more than what you can provide.

Maybe today there is something you are putting ahead of God…

  • A Relationship
  • A Financial Goal
  • A Specific Dream for your future
    I have and continue to struggle with thinking that my goals must be God’s.  I want to challenge us to seek first His Kingdom, before we seek out our own desires.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 34:7  Israel’s problem was they wanted their desires but they did not want to delight in the Lord, may that not be said of us.

Act 3 – The Consequences to Getting What We Want

Now for the rest of the story:
The Lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground. So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the Lord blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means “graves of gluttony”) because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt. Numbers 11:31-34

The Lord was true to His Word.
He sent the quail – man, did he send the quail. For 36 hours the people gathered the quail – no one gathered less than 50 bushels.  A bushel of tomatoes or corn weighs about 50 pounds, so 50 bushels is a lot of meat!  Its estimated to be about 475 pounds of quail!

Then came the ugly result of their covetousness:
Their punishment came in two forms…
1. Loss of Discernment – One the problems that comes with a covetous attitude is that we lose our capacity for discerning. The Children of Israel had so much quail, scripture says they gorged themselves. They actually lost the ability to know when they had had enough. Instead of controlling their wants their wants were controlling them. When you live a life of coveting you too can lose your discernment, you begin to want a possession or a goal more than life itself and soon you too are controlled by something rather than you having the self-control which is a fruit of the spirit.

2. Loss of their life – God intervened and caused a severe plague to come upon the people and many people died. Interesting Israel wanted to go back to Egypt for the best of everything. But God sent a plague reminded them that all that was in Egypt was destruction and plagues. If we are guilty of coveting we probably will not loose our life in such a dramatic fashion as the children of Israel did in the wilderness, but Jesus asked his followers a pertinent question that applies to us today when wit comes to handling a covetous attitude. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? Luke 9:25

The example of Israel rejecting God and choosing something else is a tragic story of coveting.  The question we need to ask ourselves today is, “what steps can we take to transform our life from an attitude of coveting to an attitude of contentment?   To read more about contentment,  see this post. Or this one about the 10th Commandment.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Read Along Daily Bible Reading: You Version

Posted in Numbers - Preparation for the Promise | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Avoid Complaining – Numbers 11:1-3

Posted on January 7, 2026 by dkoop

An Aggie family that didn’t get out much went into town to do some shopping. They went into a large store and noticed some elevator doors that got their attention.  The boy asked, “Dad what is that?” The father responded, “Son I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don’t know what it is!”
While the boy and his father were watching in wide-eyed astonishment, an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of lights above the walls light up. They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened again, and a beautiful 24-year-old blond woman stepped out.
The father turned to his son and said, “Boy, go get your Ma!”

If only change was that easy! Just walk through a door and you are transformed.  The change that we are focusing on in this series is our attitudes, and today it’s complaining.

Do you find it very easy to complain? I do!  We have plenty to complain about with taxes, traffic, rude people, and the list goes on. But should we complain?

I used to think that complaining was no big deal.  “Everyone does it,” I thought. Now I know God takes complaining seriously.

Look with me at Numbers 11:1:

1  Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused.  Numbers 11:1(NIV)

Did you see that?  God heard their complaining. What were they complaining about?  Their hardships; lets agree that being a slave in Egypt was hard, walking through a desert with a lack of water and food at times was hard, but God had delivered them and was leading them.  I find it convicting that hardships are not a good reason to complain.

As you know hardships are the normal experience of human life. They confront us all, and they perplex and puzzle us. We often ask, “Why has God let this happen to me?” Trials are common to all people (1 Cor. 10:13). When they strike us, the question is: How are we going to react? Are we going to trust God to help and strengthen us, or grumble and complain?

What are the dangers of complaining?

Complaining is bad for me because it causes anger and bitterness to grow.

Complaining is bad for others.  Do you like to be around people who complain?  If not, then why would people want to be around you when you’re complaining?  I have found that complaining is more contagious than any virus!  Once it starts at work or church it continues and before you know it everyone is complaining.  Then morale and productivity go down.

Complaining is bad because it’s missing the mark of God’s best for us.  In other words, complaining is a sin. Why? Complaining and grumbling show distrust in God:

  • Complaining is like saying, “God you could have met my needs and given me what I wanted but you blew it!”
  • Complaining shows that we do not trust the goodness and power of God that He will work things out.

As a parent if you overheard your kid’s saying, “I wish Dad had a better job.  He is not giving us the things that the neighbors have. He is NOT a good provider!”  or “Mom is too strict. Who does she think she is asking us to do this or that?”  “What losers!”    If I heard my kids say this I would be mad! Then I would be sad.   This is how God must feel at our complaining.

Let’s define complaining:
Author James MacDonald uses the following definition: “Complaining is expressing dissatisfaction with a circumstance that is not wrong and about which I’m doing nothing to correct.”

Complaining is about things that are “not wrong.”
If a situation is wrong and you express your dissatisfaction, it is not complaining.
It is not complaining to express your dissatisfaction with meal served at a restaurant and asked the server if it can be changed.
It is not complaining if you are treated rudely at a store and ask for the manager or fill out a customer service form expressing a legitimate concern.

Complaining involves things that “I’m doing nothing to correct.”  If we choose to whine about an issue but refuse to get involved in correcting the situation then we are complaining.

If we agree that complaining solves nothing but causes more problems for me, for others and with God, how do we stop complaining?

I must replace a complaining attitude with a thankful attitude.

Instead of complaining about traffic, at least I have a car!

Instead of complaining about work, at least I have a job!

It’s all about perspective.

As Christ followers we have much to be thankful for:
Our past is forgiven and our future is secure
We have God’s word to guide us
We have fellow Christians who walk with us
We have a home being prepared for us
We have a purpose for living
We have a hope for tomorrow and a strength for today.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Read Along Daily Bible Reading: You Version

Posted in Numbers - Preparation for the Promise | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Numbers 10-11:3 – On the Road Again!

Posted on January 6, 2026 by dkoop

Those who travel, move, or face new challenges know what it is to be uprooted. Life is full of changes, and few things remain stable. The Israelites were constantly moving through the wilderness. They were able to handle change only because God’s presence in the Tabernacle was always with them. The portable Tabernacle signified God and his people moving together. For us, stability does not mean lack of change, but moving with God in every circumstance.

It has been two years since Israel left Egypt. Having received God’s travel instructions through Moses, Israel set out from Mount Sinai into the wilderness of Paran on their way toward the Promised Land.

“Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up,” there’s that cloud going up that was mentioned in the last post, “from the tabernacle of the Testimony. And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran. So they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.”  We’re moving into phase two of this book from organization to disorganization.

“And so it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said,” listen to Moses’ battle cry,” ‘Rise up, O Lord! Let your enemies be scattered.’ “Remember the Lord said, “You blow that trumpet and I’m going to hear it, and I’m going to dispel your enemies.” So here’s Moses’ battle cry, “‘Rise up, O Lord! Let your enemies be scattered; let those who hate you flee before you.’ And when it rested, he said: ‘Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.’ “They start their journey, they only go three days so far, only three days.

Here’s what I love about Moses: he acknowledges that he’s going into unfamiliar territory laden with adversaries who will be his enemies and fight against him. But the Lord has given him a promise and he’s marching into the land with faith. Not going, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” but, “Rise up O Lord! Let your enemies be scattered.”

He saw his future through the eyes of faith upon a promise that God had given him. May I suggest to you that when you face difficulties, battles, the future that is unknown, wilderness areas, parched deserts, you’re feeling spiritually vanquished or malnourished, that you make statements like this of faith based upon God’s promises to you. When you bring God into the picture, it changes the picture. You take God out of the picture, it’s a bleak desert. Put God into the picture—refreshment, victory, joy, because he promised it.

Chapter 11. Chapter 11 is one of the most important chapters in the book of Numbers, because there’s a change in the wind. Everything has been decent and in order in the march for three days. It doesn’t last long,  there’s going to be forty years of havoc after three days of order. The people are going to start to complain as people often do. Keep in mind there’s probably a couple million people.

Ten people in a room have ten different ways of doing one thing. Two million people in a room—how would you like to be the leader of that? Growth, physical numeric growth can be a blessing. Gosh, you look at this and you go, “Wow! This is awesome, a few million people gathered around the tabernacle. Hallelujah!” Yeah, but just zoom in and live among them for a while and listen to their conversations, you’ll get a different picture.

For example, in the book of Acts, chapter 6? It says, “And when the number of the disciples began to multiply, a murmuring arose,” from one group against another group.

It’s great to see growth and it’s great when the church grows, but with growth comes adversity, issues, problems, complaints. As our church grows, we have problems too.

And with growth comes a perceived lack of concern. At one time there were one hundred twenty people in the upper room in Jerusalem. Now there’s multitudes, it says, growing in the early church. Don’t you think there were people from that original room who were saying things like, “Oh, man, do you remember the upper room? Now that’s where the Spirit of Lord dwelt. Do you remember the songs we sang in the upper room? And do you remember those days? Peter and John, they had time for us then. Now they’re, like, studying the Bible all the time and praying all the time and. . .”

In fact, it was in this chapter where they said, “We must not forsake the word of God in order to serve tables.” So you have a lot of people, they’re God’s people, but they’re people and they start complaining.

Look what happens. “Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord,” uh-oh, “for the Lord heard it,” as he always does, “and his anger was aroused. And so the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.” That’s why you always want to sit close.

Why the outskirts? We’re not told. Maybe there were more complaints by those people who were further away from the action in the tabernacle don’t know, but it affected the population. The Lord began judging the outskirts and then moving inward. “The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.” So immediately, without a whole a lot of commentary, you can understand and see plainly how God looks at complaining among his people.

Whenever the Bible says that God hates something, you want to notice what that is.  Because whatever that is, I don’t want to do those things. There’s a little list of those things in Proverbs, chapter 6. It says, “There are six things the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination to him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that is given to evil schemes, feet that are swift to do evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and,” listen to the last, “he who sows discord among the brethren.” God hates that.

There’s not a whole lot of explanation. The people complained, God didn’t like that, he heard it, and immediately started judging it.  In the next post we will look why complaining is problematic.

There are some people as soon as you begin to engage them many a conversation it doesn’t take long. They’re so predisposed to negativity that within just a few moments they’re already trash talking.  It’s a bad cycle to get into.

There was a lady that walked up to John Wesley the evangelist, and she said, “I believe I’ve discovered what my talent is, my talent, I have a talent,” she said, “for just speaking my mind.” The evangelist said in his classic, wry manner, “I believe that is one talent the Lord wouldn’t mind if you buried.” These people were just speaking their mind, they complained, and so God took action.

In the next post we will look at more reasons we should Avoid Complaining.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Read Along Daily Bible Reading: You Version

Sources: Life Application Bible Notes (Tyndale, 2007), 216.

Connect Ministries, Numbers 10-11, 2014.

Posted in Numbers - Preparation for the Promise | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment