Scripture Reading: Numbers 14:26-38

A Case of the Gripes

We must not grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:10)

Grumbling is not included among the Seven Deadly Sins, yet in the Bible it is clearly one of the most destructive attitudes of which the human spirit is capable. A simple look in a thesaurus reveals how serious this sin can be by noting the synonyms with which it is associated: complaining, muttering, grunting, putting up a squawk, griping, Bellyaching, making a fuss, fretting and fuming, etc.

Again and again during the journey from Egypt to Canaan, the people of Israel grumbled and complained. Water was bitter (Exodus 15:24). People were hungry (Exodsu16:2-3) and homesick for the “good old days’ in Egypt (Numbers 14:1-4). The leadership was poor (Numbers 16:3,41). Circumstances were hard to the brink of spiritual disaster. Not only in the Bible but throughout the history of the Church, the saints of God nave recognized the deadly nature of a grumbling spirit. This sin can poison health, destroy relationships, quench the Spirit, extinguish the faith, produce a wasted life, and keep people during laps in the wilderness forever!

There is a delightful passage in Pilgrims Progress in which author John Bunyan describes in quaint old English language a case of “the gripes”. Matthew, a pilgrim on the road to the Celestial City, has fallen ill because he has eaten some green plums from Beelzebub’s orchard. Mr. Skill, a godly physician, examines him and immediately diagnoses the problem: he is sick with the gripes. Mathew had eaten something he could not digest and was “much pained in his bowels, so that he was with it at times pulled as “’twere both ends together”. Mr. Skill knew there was only one hope. “He must be purged or else he will die.”

So he make him a purge….’Twas made ex carne et sanquine Christi (you know physicians give strange medicines to their patients) and it was made up into pills with a promise or two, and a proportionable quantity of salt. Now he wa to take them three at a time, fasting, in half a quarter of a pint of the tears of repentance.

At first, Matthew refused to take the prescribed medicine. He feared it would be too bitter. But when he obeyed, he discovered that the pills were sweeter than honey. Immediately he was cured of the gripes.

Perhaps you, like Matthew, find yourself suffering from a case of the gripes. You grumble about the weather, murmur about the government, complain about your health, whine about your marriage, and belly ache about the state of the church. Beware! Thee attitudes are deadly and can keep you doing laps in the wilderness forever. But I have good news. The Great Physician has a potion that can purge you and make you well. It is the medicine of contentment. But it will take courage to swallow the pills your Doctor prescribes. After confessing and repenting of the sin of grumbling, let the Holy Spirit teach you to be content, whatever your circumstances. Sitting in Nero’s prison awaiting probable execution, Paul found that this medicine was potent and able to keep him from getting sick with the gripes.

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Now, go and take your medicine! There is no other way to be cured of the gripes.

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to nad delights in god’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. – Jeremial Burroughs

Point to ponder: Is there an area in your life today where you have a case of “The gripes””?

Prayer focus: For God to teach you the secret of contentment