TEXT: Psalm 39:9

SUBJECT: Mute Christian #7

Tonight, with God’s blessing, we’ll continue our study of The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod. The author is the Puritan pastor, Thomas Brooks. The topic is Suffering with Grace.

Over the last few weeks, one word has come up over and over again. That word is murmuring. The Lord is highly offended by murmuring. He destroyed the Jews for murmuring; He doesn’t like it any more in us than He did in them.

What is murmuring? It’s not groaning when your back hurts; it’s not crying when a loved one dies; it’s not being upset when someone has done you wrong; it’s not talking about your problems. None of these things is wrong. But murmuring is. It is self-pity and resentment put into words. It’s saying—in effect—God did me wrong. Murmuring takes many forms. There’s the quiet kind—pouting; there’s the loud kind—raging; and there’s the non-stop kind—grumbling. You have your favorite, I have mine, but every kind of murmuring is both wrong and dangerous.

What’s so bad about murmuring? Thomas Brooks says quite a bit. Here’s some of it.

Some sins come "out of the blue". You haven’t been thinking about them; you don’t approve of them, but in a moment of weakness, you’re tempted and give in. Murmuring is not one of these sins. It implies a whole lot wrong with you on the inside. The Puritan says,

He’s not mincing words here, is he? To say a bad word now and then implies more weakness than sin, but to be a complainer, to make a habit of griping about your problems and dumping all over people every chance you get suggests a heart deeply backslidden and maybe not saved at all.

Pastors often overstate their cases. But I’m not doing it here. According to Galatians 5, every believer bears the fruit of God’s Spirit. Not everyone equally, of course, but everyone does. Now, think about it: Which fruit of the Spirit is consistent with the habit of murmuring?

Is it love? Do I love God if I’m always griping about how He’s doing me wrong? Or, do I love others if I’m always calling attention to myself and never thinking of them? Where’s the love?

How about joy and peace? Have you ever heard of a happy belly-acher? Or a serene complainer?

What about longsuffering? If I’m so patient with others, why am I always griping about them?

Gentleness? Goodness? Meekness? Self-control? I can’t see how these things tend to breed murmuring.

The only one I could come up with is faithfulness. When it comes to griping, there are some people you can count on! Like the hot spring in Yellowstone Park, they blow up every hour on the hour!

If murmuring is that full of sin, it must be pretty bad. That’s Number One.

The history of Israel in the Wilderness was not always easy. The trip was way longer than they expected it to be. The food was monotonous. The water was scarce. They had to keep an eye out for enemies all around them. Some wanted to attack them; others wanted to seduce them. And the leaders were not always men of high character. In short, their life was hard and full of problems.

Knowing the great compassion of God, you’d think He would overlook their murmuring. He may not justify it, but He would excuse it. After all,

You’d think He would be easy on them for their murmuring. But He wasn’t. In fact, their griping provoked Him more than anything else they did. The fiery serpents, for example were sent in as a punishment for their belly-aching!

That means one of two things: Either God was too hard on them or we’re too easy on murmuring. I don’t have to tell you which one it is. Here’s Thomas Brooks,

I’ve read softer words, but none truer. Murmurers are "branded with infamy and stigmatized…" They’re not weak believers who have a hard time holding their tongues, but "ungodly persons".

I’m not real fond of what he says, but I can’t argue with it. It’s plainly what the Bible teaches, I Corinthians 10:10,

If murmuring provokes God, we shouldn’t do it. One more quote,

That’s Number Two.

I won’t develop this one much. If Satan hates to hear God praised, he must love murmuring because it’s the opposite of praise!

What does the devil love more than pride, ingratitude, and self-pity? What words sing to him more than blasphemy? Murmuring is full of these things. And more. They must, therefore, please the devil.

But that’s just what we do when we murmur. If you don’t want to please the devil, don’t murmur. That’s Number Three.

This, I think, is the most important thing the Puritan has to say on the subject. By griping about what we don’t have, we don’t notice what we do have. If you’re fixated on one problem, you’re blind to the countless favors God does for you every minute of the day.

Everyone has tons of earthly blessings—none of which he deserves, Acts 14:17, 17:28. The complainer has all these too—though he rarely thinks about them. How can he? If he started counting his blessings, he wouldn’t have anything to complain about!

Every believer has all the spiritual blessings God can give him, Ephesians 1:3, II Peter 1:3. These are never mentioned in his complaints.

To overlook something or to undervalue it is just another way of saying you despise it. Who are we, sinners by nature and choice, to shrug off the blessings of God that come to us daily and all by grace?

It’s hard for me to think of an uglier word than ingrate. But that’s what the complainer is. Murmuring is a terrible sin because it’s a fruit of ingratitude. When Paul was indicting the human race for it’s apostasy, he hit rock bottom when he said of them,

It hurts me to think that my griping is the product of unthankfulness. But it is. And so is yours. Here’s the quote,

`To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet’,

If God’s mercies are like an apple pie, murmuring puts motor oil into it. If they’re like a generous friend, murmuring kills him before the gift can be given.

What a terrible thing murmuring is! Let me read you one of the worst examples of it. It’s found in Esther 5:9-13. Haman had everything a man could want, yet because one thing didn’t go his way, he couldn’t enjoy anything else. We’re more like Haman than we’d like to admit.

Are you a complainer? Everyone complains now and then, but that’s not the question. Are you in the habit of griping? Let me give you a couple of tests:

• Do people tend to avoid you?

• Do their shoulders slump when you walk up to them?

• Do their eyes glaze over when you start in on your long list of woes?

I have another friend who has fewer and less serious problems than she does. When she starts in, though, I click into auto pilot. I sit there and appear to listen with sympathy. But it’s not from the heart. Do you know why? Because she never lets us! She’s a complainer. I can name a dozen people she’s worn out with her griping!

If this test doesn’t work, let me give you another one: Today have you spent more time griping or giving thanks? Maybe today’s an exception. What about yesterday? Or the whole week? Or, month? Or, year?

If you’re a complainer, repent of your sin, trusting God to forgive you and make you into a new person by His grace.

If you’re not a complainer, thank the Lord. It’s not anything in you that did it, but something in Him.

If you’re somewhere in-between, all I can say is: "Keep on putting off the old man and keep on putting on the new".

The love of God be with you. For Christ’s sake. Amen.