“… just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you…”(Numbers 14:28)
 
A journey that should have taken eleven days went on and on for forty years. It did not take forty hours or forty days. Neither did it take forty weeks or forty months, but forty years. It should have taken the children of Israel eleven days to travel through the wilderness to get to their Promised Land, but the journey went on for forty years. Are you in a situation where you are wandering around in the wilderness?
WILDERNESS JOURNEY
The wilderness is a place that you pass through to get to your Promised Land. It is not a place where you settle down and live like the children of Israel did. A wilderness journey is not a journey that you plan for, but a journey that positions you for the plan of God to be carried out in your life. A wilderness journey is a journey of trials and temptations and it is the only avenue that leads from the promise of God to God’s Promised Land. An attempt to avoid a wilderness journey will make a believer become a wanderer and not a wonder in the area of divine calling. A wilderness journey is a wild journey where complaining complicates the journey of life. On a wilderness journey, a failure to progress by faith will lead to untimely death. The complaining from the people God delivered out of Egypt caused them to wander and die on their wilderness journey.
ACTS OF COMPLAINING
Complaining is rebellious and self destructive. Are you complaining about your situation? As a result of the children of Israel’s persistent complaining against God in their journey, God responded by saying “Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.” (Numbers 14:22-23) God made a promise to take the children of Israel to the Promised Land. He showed them great and mighty signs in Egypt and on their way out of Egypt. The signs and wonders of God were their testimonies.
TESTIFY NOT COMPLAIN
Meditating on God’s testimonies are more than enough to transport believers to the Promised Land. Are you constantly meditating on His testimonies? The Psalmist knew what he was saying by virtue of his confessions in Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies” Psalm 119:14, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches” Psalm 119: 24, “Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors” Psalm 119:46, I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.”  The Psalmist testifies about what God has done or what God is doing rather than complain. The testimonies of God are worthy of meditation. What are the testimonies of your heart? The testimony of your heart is the evidence of your faith in God. Faith is what provokes the hand of God. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”(Hebrew 11:6) Let today be your day of meditating on the testimonies of God and the act of complaining will not have to complicate your journey through the wilderness.
COMPLIMENT DO NOT COMPLAIN
God is the only unchanging changer. God has never changed and he will not change. Regardless of what your challenges are, know for sure that complaining does not settle well before God. Complaining is sin and God will not overlook sin. God did not overlook it when the children of Israel complained against Him then, and He will not overlook it now. Complaining instead of complimenting the work of His hand could cause greater pain than what you are complaining about. God responded to consistent complaining from the children of Israel, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.”(Numbers 14:27-28) They complained and confessed death. What can cause you to complain and confess death? There is a need to be conscious of the words that come out of your mouth, regardless of what your challenges are today. It is written, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”(Proverb 18:2) The children of Israel did not aware of what they were confessing in their complaints. It is not worth it to complain at all because God’s hand can never be too short concerning every area of challenge. After Moses had pleaded with God for the children of Israel not to be destroyed, the LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?”(Numbers 14:11) Have you seen enough signs to know and believe that complaining against God is rejecting God; and that complaining against God is asking for a self destruction? How long will it take you to believe that He is capable to see you through, despite all that stands against you?
FAITH CAPSULE
Complaining is rebellious and self destructive.
Complaining instead of complimenting the work of His hand could cause greater pain than what you are complaining about.
Tunde