In Ex. 15:22-25 we read—“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.  When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.  So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.”

On the surface, their grumbling is understandable.  Think of it—three days wandering around in the desert without finding water!  Then, if that isn’t bad enough, when they actually found some, their desperate hopes were dashed by it being too “bitter” (likely poisonous) to drink!  So, like any normal human beings would, they took it all out on their leader!

Now let’s look at the bigger picture.  First, notice what happened just before those three days in the desert— the Lord had miraculously parted the Red Sea for them to cross on dry land, and then wiped out all their pursuing enemies by closing that same sea around them!  Once safely on the far side of danger, they rightly sang and praised the Lord for His protective intervention.

Then they forgot.  Like we do.  It’s one thing to trust, praise, and thank the Lord in the middle of His evident presence, or right after He does a miracle for us.  The real test we desperately need help, things are getting worse, and He’s nowhere to be seen!

We fail that test every time we don’t trust Him to provide— every time we only see our really bad circumstances—so we grumble. 

But what did Moses do?  He not only had to deal with the same parched throat everyone else did, he had to deal with an angry mob against him.

He showed us how to respond—by counting God in!  He took it all straight to Him—“cried out to the Lord…”.  Then he listened to Him and followed His instructions when the Lord showed Him what to do.  Result?  Drinkable water.  Quenched thirst.  Everyone lived to see another day. 

Everyone thanked their leader and the Lord again.  At least until they ran into lack of provision again and started grumbling against their leader and Lord again.

And so it goes.  Gratitude gives way to grumbling when we forget what the Lord has done for us and lose our trust in Him.  When we lose sight of His presence with and for us, to protect, provide, and guide.

As soon as we remember to trust Him, or someone reminds us, grumbling will give way to gratitude again. 

So how can we do this?  How can we keep gratitude from giving way to grumbling, or at least kick grumbling back out and replace it with gratitude again?

1. Avoid comparison—it’s easy to feel thankful when something good happens to us or we receive something good.  But what happens when someone else receives something better, or something better happens to them? 

For example—let’s say you get a raise at work— it feels so great… until a colleague mentions their bigger raise!  Then what?  “So great!” mutates into “Not fair!”  Your raise hasn’t changed.  Only your attitude has.

That’s why the Bible reminds us that comparing ourselves to each other is “foolish” – 2 Cor. 10:12

2. Remember how the Lord has helped us before—This is one time when we’re not supposed to forget the past!  When we allow those thankful memories to fade, we lose our trust and revert to default grumbling (i.e., human nature.)

This is exactly why every time the Lord intervened in the lives of His people to rescue and/or provide for them, He commanded the re-telling of it, along with memory-objects so they wouldn’t forget the next time. 

For example, the Passover ceremony and celebration, which both Jews and many Christians celebrate today—to remember how the Lord delivered His people from slavery in Egypt:

“’This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.’”  Exod. 12:14 (see Exod. 12:14-20)

There is always a next time for trials.  So we need to remember. 

Otherwise we’ll end up like Jesus’ disciples, who got worried and upset when they forgot to take bread with them for their boat-journey.  Jesus had to remind them He’d just miraculously fed them and 4000-plus other people, when they lacked their own provision!  And just so they’d know that wasn’t a fluke, He reminded them of how He fed 5000 men, plus all the women and children, before that!  See Mark 8:14-21

In other words, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!” 

George Mueller and those under his care and influence grasped this.  Even when the refrigerator and pantry were empty, they all sat down and said grace.  They THANKED THE LORD for the food!  No one grumbled about the lack of it.  And when they looked up, the food had appeared! 

3. Tune in to things to thank Him for—This takes some real discipline, especially since, by human nature, our minds default to “WISH-AM” (and pm)—the “I want more” station!  But we can re-set the dial to gratitude by training ourselves to think of good things–

“Finally, whatever is true, …honorable, …just, …pure, …lovely, …commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Phil. 4:8

And if we can’t think of anything, we can thank the Lord for Who He is—His character and attributes.  That will certainly build our trust in Him, and help us to “Give thanks in all circumstances.”  1 Thes. 5:18

Grumbling and gratitude cannot co-exist.  Either we have one or the other. They occupy two different spaces, or “rooms” in our heart. Since most, if not all, of us, prefer to be happy, I recommend finding and using the key that opens the door to gratitude—trust in Him!