In Deuteronomy 7:7-8, the Lord expressed His great love for the nation of Israel. In the midst of this declaration, the Lord provided reasons why He placed His love upon this particular nation. In Deuteronomy 1:27, the people began to murmur and their murmurings bred lies. They stated that the Lord brought them out of Egypt to destroy them because of His great hatred for them. Their statements were completely false. This is true in most circumstances when people turn to murmuring. The problem gets exaggerated and the truth corrupted. Fabricating lies helps the one murmuring to feel better about voicing the complaint. Interestingly, the truth is usually not worth murmuring about.
Why do people murmur? What causes them to get so frustrated to the point where they would publicly discuss their disappointment with their circumstances? The Bible provides several reasons. In Jude 16, the Bible says that people complain or murmur because they are “walking after their own lusts.” In John chapter 6, the Lord Jesus indicated another reason why an individual might complain. When the Lord knew that His disciples murmured within themselves, He asked them if they were offended (John 6:61). In other words, people murmur when things turn out differently than they had hoped. It is not so much the trial that bothers them but the offense to their self-will.
Life’s trials and difficulties are intended to draw people into a deeper knowledge of the Lord. However, murmuring hinders the lessons that result from the trials. The Lord uses trials to draw the unsaved to an understanding of their need to trust Jesus Christ as Saviour. At the same time, the Lord uses trials to teach saved people that they need to fully rely on Him and Him alone. These trials are meant to better the individual afflicted. However, the benefits of trials can be minimized when those enduring the trials begin to murmur and complain about the very thing intended to teach them. Murmuring hinders the education offered by trials. It puts the focus on the apparent wrong of the trial rather than upon what lesson the Lord might hope to come from the trial.
The Lord detests murmuring. He hates it so much that He sent fire among the Israelites because of their murmurings (Numbers 11:1). In the New Testament, He warned believers to avoid falling prey to the same sin as the Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:1-14). Additionally, New Testament believers are admonished to do all things without murmurings (Philippians 2:14-16). People murmur as they focus on events within their lives rather than upon the Lord and His word. Yet, the Christian’s life events are ultimately brought to pass, either directly or indirectly, by a loving and caring God. The Lord abhors murmuring because it directly insults His working and provision in our lives.
Murmuring is a grievous sin harmful to everyone involved or impacted. When God’s people murmur, they do so because their heart is not sufficiently focused upon the Lord. Various forms of the word murmur occur forty times in the word of God. Interestingly, the number forty throughout scripture is frequently connected to a time of testing or trial. The vast majority of these occurrences reflect people who were displeased with something the Lord was responsible for doing. Their displeasure with the Lord caused them to voice their frustrations to others. Murmuring generally manifests itself outwardly, but at its root is a heart problem (Matthew 12:34; Matthew 15:19). It comes as no surprise that the medical community uses the term murmur to describe a heart problem.
The Bible associates several qualities to the truly humble person. The book of James lists a few of these prominent traits as follows. The humble man submits to the will of God (James 4:7). Additionally, he repents of his sins (James 4:8) and mourns over his disobedience (James 4:9). He refuses to speak evil of his brother (James 4:11), but rather chooses to leave judgment to the Lord because He is the righteous Judge (James 4:12). He refuses to boast about what he is doing (James 4:13-16) because he knows that his failure to do right is a sin (James 4:17). Yet, the greatest truth concerning the humble man is not what he does or gives for God, but what God gives to him. The Bible says that God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud (1 Peter 5:5-6). Think about this profound truth. God gives a man what he needs if that man will simply remain humble.
The Bible repeatedly emphasizes that honour follows humility! But how does this work? According to our passage, “whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Abased means to be brought low, while exalted means to be elevated. Matthew 23:12 and Luke 18:14 reiterate the truth found in Luke 14:11, yet none of the verses expound upon how this takes place. What or who is at work behind the scenes to make this principle true? The answer is found in James 4:10—“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Man’s finite mind-set leads him to think that the way up is up and the way down is down; but according to the Bible, the opposite is true. The way up (to be exalted) is down (through humility) and the way down (to be abased) is up (self-exaltation). Those who seek to be exalted by others will find themselves frustrated through their own efforts; yet those who seek humility will be exalted by God.
Following the victory of a battle, the victors generally divide the spoil. The soldiers triumphantly go through the enemy camp removing anything they desire. The act of dividing the spoil indicates a time of victory and intense celebration as a result of winning the battle. Yet, the Bible reveals that there is something far better than dividing the spoil with the proud: being “of an humble spirit with the lowly.” This can only pertain to those looking at life from a godly perspective. Man would naturally rather celebrate a victory with the proud than to be humbled through defeat. The context of the passage quite possibly could indicate that the lowly refers to those who have suffered the defeat; therefore, it is better to be humbled by defeat than to be proud in victory.
It seems that far too many men seek to be honoured by others whether deserved or completely unwarranted. However, few men understand the proper biblical path for being rightfully honoured. One would naturally think honour comes to those who are confident and proud, but the Bible reveals the opposite. Proverbs 15:33 and Proverbs 18:12 both declare that humility precedes honour. This means that a person desiring to receive honour must first possess the character trait of true humility. Conversely, the Bible points out that a haughty heart precedes the pathway to destruction (Proverbs 18:12). Moreover, the Bible couples humility with the fear of the Lord and shows that it yields riches, honour, and life (Proverbs 22:4). Desiring these good things is only reasonable, yet they are only derived through God’s prescribed means and not man’s self-styled means.
Careless Bible students often make wrongful assumptions for the purpose of God’s interaction with man. One such example involves the reasoning for Israel’s wilderness wanderings. Several alternative explanations might be supposed, but the Bible emphasizes one primary purpose, that of humility. Moses declared this truth to the people when he said, “thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee . . . to humble thee.” He quickly added that God “humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna.” Deuteronomy 8:16 reemphasizes this truth: “Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee.” The Lord selected Israel’s trials and troublesome path in order to humble them. Truth is frequently that simple but missed by those who read the Bible with preconceived philosophies and concepts.
