3.8.18 Praise Prompt: Whining and Solutions

PRAISE PROMPT ••• Psalm 51:15 NLT says, “Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.”
This verse showed up in my Bible reading this morning.
My Friends, that is not a coincidence.
Today begins a series of Praise Prompts.
This has been on my heart for months, and to be honest, I haven’t really had a clear idea of how to go about it.
I’m not worried though because the same God who has directed a year’s worth of Prayer Prompts will oversee this series as well!
What I do know is that together, we’re going to look for any and every opportunity to praise God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!
Let’s start the Praise Prompt series with another part of my morning Bible Study – the Israelites 40-year journey in the wilderness.
If you’ve ever planned a party or hosted a dinner or coordinated a work function, you know there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that makes it all happen.
I’ve coordinated more than I can count – both personally and professionally.
And in either situation, nothing frustrates me more than whining.
When it comes to massive coordination efforts and seeing to the dietary needs of others, Moses may be the most experienced event coordinator in history.
Yet, we know from Numbers 11, he dealt with not a few whiners, but thousands upon thousands.
They were tired of manna and wanted meat.
(Catering options in the wilderness were – and still are – fairly limited!)
Moses went to the Lord in utter frustration.
In Numbers 11:18b & 20, God told Moses to tell the Israelites, “Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. 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?’”
But it seems the people’s negativity rubbed off on Moses and he went to the Lord with his own brand of whining in verse 22, “Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”
Y’all, I love God’s response in verse 23, “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”
Friends, God is in control.
He knew then that the Israelites would complain, and He knows when you whine, I whine, and when all of us are out of sorts or overwhelmed by the tasks we face.
But here’s something to get excited about: God doesn’t get overwhelmed.
He doesn’t get stressed out.
He doesn’t sit around whining for a solution because He already has all the answers!
That’s something worth praising because whenever we are stressed out, we can go to the one who has it all figured out!
But I imagine that God our Father looks at whining the same way we do as earthly parents.
My son can still quote verbatim what I used to say to him all the time: “I won’t listen to you when you whine or nag me.”
God is always willing to listen, but as is evidenced by this passage in Numbers 11, He’s as “enthusiastic” about whining as the rest of us are…
Instead of complaints, He wants us to come to Him with our needs and requests, with the absolute trust and assurance that He’s got it all figured out.
Today, let’s praise the One who knows all our problems and holds all our answers!