Paul recalled several things that led to the destruction of the Israelites in the wilderness. The first on the list was lust, followed by idolatry. Then you have sexual immorality and tempting God. Finally, murmuring was listed as the fifth cause of their destruction. The focus here is on the fifth. For reasons best known to them, Israel chose complaining as their natural way of voicing out what they did not understand or agree with. It was their reaction to every temporary difficulty. Incidentally, there was no such difficulty for which God had not provided a way of escape. Unfortunately, their attitude never allowed them to see the solutions.

Listening to a podcast by Archbishop Kirby Clement recently, I heard him say that “complaining compromises creativity”. You cannot be given to complaining and be creative at the same time. If anything, complaining will put your creative ability in the reverse gear. A truly creative person can put a better construction on what would warrant murmuring. Most times, what we need is a change of perspective on given stressors, and life will take on a brilliant new meaning. In reality, the children of Israel had no justifiable reason to complain. They got delivered from cruel bondage and saved from the pursuing army of Pharaoh. They had access to food for which they did not labour. Despite these they murmured. A better approach to life is finding that one reason to be grateful even in the midst of most challenging situations.