I know I already used this quote, but it's so good!

C.S. Lewis said,

"When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.
~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (1952)

So in keeping with the murmuring and testing thought process. How will we know we're a patient person unless put in a situation that tests our patience? Or how will we know if we are a loving kind and forgiving person, unless put in a situation to test that? God does love us, and he's trying to help us be better, more loving, and more humble people. How do you respond when he tests you in your life? Do you murmur, or respond for help and extra strength if you don't feel equal to your task?

Murmur, murmur, murmur...

This Old Testament study is so much fun!

O.k. so in my reading this week, Israel just crossed the parted Red Sea on dry ground and witnessed that miracle and show of God's strength. (Exodus 14) Not to mention all the plagues and other shows of God's power and strength.

Yet here we are in chapter 15 and they have started murmuring.

Here is the definition of murmuring.

1. To make a low, continuous, indistinct sound or succession of sounds.

2. To complain in low mumbling tones; grumble.

Is it actively communicating and trying to solve or work through a problem? Nope. It's just grumbling, and not even so people can hear or understand what you're saying, just contributing to a negative pessimistic air and attitude. Does that murmuring do anything good for the children of Israel?

Does murmuring ever do anything good for you?

Our whole purpose in being here on earth is to be tested. I think some of us know this but often forget it. Some of you know this truth that we are here to be tested and forget it once that testing begins. I know I do sometimes.

God doesn't want us to suffer, but he does want us to grow and develop, and that doesn't happen without SOME (or a lot) of STRETCHING, and moving, and changing, and doing things differently than we were doing before.

We won't be tested above what we're able to handle. This is shown in Exodus 13: 17. When the Israelites were leaving Egypt, God had Moses take them the long way around the Philistines because their faith wasn't strong enough to go through those lands yet.

Sometimes we're tested by intense episodes that seem to overwhelm every part of our very being. Other times we're tested by smaller problems that don't go away very quickly, and persistently start eating at us. Or both at the same time. :) The Israelites were tested by an intense trial when the Egyptian army had almost reached them after they had been released, and they started crying to Moses- why did you bring us here just so we would die in the wilderness! And then God showed them his power and that he truly was in charge by opening the way for them and parting the Red Sea and then crushing it on top of the Egyptian army when they tried to follow. He also tested their endurance in the wilderness with water and then food, and each time they murmured but then God still blessed them with pure water and the manna from heaven.

Poor Israel, not really standing up to their tests like the chosen people of God should. They murmured toward Moses and directly to God, saying each time that life had been better in Egypt, and why were we out here anyway? They were free now! But of course they couldn't see that God was trying to get them ready for their own land, and even after awhile they complained about the manna and their clothes. They were bored of them. Do you murmur when you have had the same trial for an extended period of time? When you have been so frugal and working so hard to financially be free, and you still aren't where you think you should be? Or how about a physical trial that won't get taken away? (I know this is one of my hardest trials, being a positive happy influence when my body is at a low point.)

So where do you fall? When you have a trial, are you the first to blame God and murmur and be angry about it or angry at someone else? Or are you strong and turn your heart and mind to God in prayer asking for strength to endure and possibly overcome if it is His will?

I know I have some repenting to do on this one.