Stop Murmuring And Turn God

Stop Murmuring And Turn To God
By Abundant Robert K. AWOLUGUTU
A basic cause of murmuring is that too many of us seem to expect that life will flow ever smoothly, featuring an unbroken chain of green lights with empty parking places just in front of our destinations!

-Elder Neal A Maxwell, General Conference, 1989
As you journey through this life, situations of adversity will be thrown at you. Trials, disappointments, sadness, illness and heartaches are a difficult part of life, but they can lead to your spiritual upliftment, refinement and progress if you turn to the Lord.

There are many ways adversity can come to us. You may bring adversity upon yourself by your own pride and disobedience. Remember pride comes before a fall. Such situations can be avoided through righteous living and by adherence to gospel teachings and obedience to the commandments of God.

Even when we live righteously, adversity can still happen. For instance, you may find yourself in serious affliction when sickness strikes, when your wealth disappears due to one reason or the other, when you lose a loved one, your marriage hits the rock or a natural disaster affects you. These situations can alter your life in positive or negative ways depending on your responses.

You may also be adversely affected by others poor choices, actions and hurtful words. There is a spirit behind the words we speak. Your words may either build up a person or destroy him. Do you speak words that edify others? What about your actions, do they lead to contentions or promote harmonious living?

Adversity comes to make us better not bitter. When you face adversity, do you murmur or turn to God for a solution?

For most people, it is murmuring rather than seeking the face of God in their moments of distress and discomfort.

When people murmur, they complain. The experts have defined murmuring as a half-suppressed resentment and muttered complaint. People murmur when they face adversity. They murmur when things are not in their favour. They grumble when they are not reaching their goals. They put up a rebellious attitude when they don’t understand those in authority.

In Exodus 15:24 the word of God says, “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” Moses and the Israelites were in the wilderness for three days and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. Their murmuring was not only against Moses but God. Moses was an inspired leader and everything he did was under Divine guidance and instruction. The people should have put their faith in their leader (Moses) and heavenly Father instead of complaining.

Moses kept the commandments and remained faithful to God even when the situation dictated otherwise. He prayed to God who manifested his power by making the waters sweet for the people to drink.

In Exodus 15:25 Moses “cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters were made sweet; there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.” When we face adversity we should not give up but remain steadfast and faithful to God who has the solution.

In deciding how far to go we should remember how far we have come. The Lord tested Israel in the wilderness for forty years but the outcome was one of restored hope, peace, joy and happiness. In Deuteronomy 8:2-3 Bible counsels: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

In the book of Mormon, there is a record of two young men murmuring against their father, prophet Lehi. Lehi received revelations by the power of the Holy Ghost about the impending destruction of Jerusalem because of the wickedness and abominations of the people at that time. He warned the people to repent or face destruction and slavery in the hands of their enemies from Babylon. The people were not happy with Lehi and wanted to kill him. God accordingly instructed him to leave Jerusalem.

In 1 Nephi 2:4 the word of God said, “And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.”

Lehi was a disciplinarian and loving father. He instructed his children to live righteously and also keep the commandments of God.

Lemuel and Laman, sons of Lehi murmured in many things against him. They complained that their father had made them to leave their house, their gold, silver and many other precious things to come and die in the wilderness.

Their rebellious attitude shows their lack of faith in their father and the God who created them. They also did not believe in the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem as told by the prophets.

Murmuring has the tendency of preventing us from following living prophets, inspired leaders and loving parents. It leads to disobedience and slothfulness in keeping the commandments.

Prophets of old have warned us against murmuring. The scriptures teach: “But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.” (D &C 58:29).

In conclusion, murmuring is a poor attitude when it comes to dealing with adversities. Your constant response to every situation of adversity should be your trust in the eternal Father and our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Instead of murmuring, turn to God in prayer for a solution to the challenges facing you. The prophet Alma taught, “Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.’’ (Alma 36:3).

Yours in inspiration,
Abundant Robert AWOLUGUTU
Correction Officer, Priest & Author
Cell: 0208 455 296; Email: [email protected]