The Lord has freed us from sin so that we can worship Him. But if we have murmuring and complaining in our lives, then the things we voice about ourselves, about others, and about our circumstances work in opposition to the worship God is seeking. We ask the Lord, therefore, to set a guard over our mouths and to free us from the sin of murmuring that keeps us from worshipping Him as we should.

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Show Notes:

God had a clear, simple agenda when He delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He delivered them so that they could worship Him. But we know what happened after that deliverance. As soon as they entered the wilderness, they began to murmur and complain, which is the opposite of worship. This is an important lesson for us because God’s plan today is no different than it was for them. God wants a people who will worship Him. And our murmuring and complaining is in direct opposition to that plan.

In our human state, we are conditioned to complain about things. It is easy to fall into complaining about our health, our circumstances, our finances, our relationships, and so forth. These responses slow us down more than we realize. Have you been unable to pinpoint the source of certain defeats in your life? Have you been robbed of blessings just as soon as they began in your life? Look at a time when you grumbled, complained, and criticized. This is a sin that works directly against our worship of God.

In the midst of terrible circumstances, pressures, and dangers, David prayed, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.” He had much to complain about, but he knew that murmuring and complaining would prevent his worship from rising like incense before the Lord. We need to make the same prayer: “Lord, by Your grace, by the power of Your Spirit, refrain my mouth from murmuring.” If we want to move forward, then we first need to go back to God’s original plan for our deliverance. He delivers us so that we can worship Him. Let us free ourselves from anything that would still be working against that purpose.

Key Verses:

• Numbers 9:10–11. “If any one … becomes unclean … he may … observe the Passover … in the second month.”
• Exodus 7:16. “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness.”
• Psalm 119:71. “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
• Acts 3:18–21. “Repent and return … in order that times of refreshing may come.”
• Psalm 141:1–3. “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth.”
• Proverbs 18:21. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Quotes:

• “The opposite of worship is murmuring.”
• “We are not going to do anything before going back to the basic foundational reason for God to deliver us. And I want to be delivered from the addiction to murmuring.”
• “Don’t feel like you cannot worship Him because you are not in a huge congregation. You are the temple of the Lord. In your temple, in your personal life, there must be worship to God.”

Takeaways:

1. God delivered His people at the Passover so that they could be His worshippers. But their murmuring and complaining was the opposite of worship. God’s plan is to deliver us so that we can worship Him. But our murmuring and complaining opposes that plan.
2. God made provision for a second Passover, called Pesach Sheni, for those who had not been prepared for the original Passover. We tap into this provision to let God deliver us from our murmuring and complaining.
3. Like David, we ask the Lord to refrain our mouths from murmuring and to keep us from voicing those things that work against God’s plan and purpose for our lives.

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