Grumbling or Contentment

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GRUMBLING OR CONTENTMENT

1 Cor 10:6-10

6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."   8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did — and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did — and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did — and were killed by the destroying angel.

NIV

Idolatry, pagan revelry, sexual immorality, grumbling, and testing God are quite a list of things not to do. And we have an example of seeing just how easy it is to yield to such temptations and what the result of doing so is. Now it is true we live in what is called the age of grace, and at least as far as we know, God has not struck down thousands of people in one fell swoop, yet should we be concerned as to how God will react to us if we engage in any of these behaviors? More than likely we will not invest any of our time and energy in paying homage to any idol, nor make anything an idol, like success, money, security, material possessions, or even some celebrity or sports star or the whole team for that matter. It is doubtful we would ever indulge in pagan revelry or commit sexual immorality. Most likely we would never test the Lord either, like if you are really Christ then you could do…… But this grumbling thing might cause us some problems. This would certainly be the result of not being content with who we are, with where we are, with what we are doing, and with what we have or have not. It would seem no matter what God did for those people in the past, they simply were not satisfied, they wanted more or something else. Are we guilty of that kind of thinking? Do we have to watch out for a certain type of angel? It would seem we really have no reason to grumble, but yet it also appears we could always find something to grumble about. Surely if we grumble about our lot in life, the amount of money we don’t have, or our cars are not the newest, our clothes are not the finest, our job is the best, or some other material thing, we might be grumbling against God. If we simply grumble about our aches and pains is that grumbling against God? We can surely do something about all of those things if we take it upon ourselves to follow our own desires, our own instincts, our own choices, our own ambitions, and our own way of life. But would that in a sense be grumbling against God as well? Sure, being a believer does not preclude us from having all those fine things if they come from the hand of God. If He directs us in that way and desires for us to live at a certain social economic level it is for a reason, so we can share the gospel with others at that same level. But that is up to God and not us to determine. Grumbling is grumbling, no matter how much or little we have if we are not content. It is also interesting that Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatever the circumstance. It would be good for us to learn contentment instead of grumbling.