Do everything without grumbling.
—Philippians 2:14
The Israelites escaped oppressive slavery and headed for the Promised Land. They were barely around the first bend in the road when they started grumbling: nasty water, bad food, incompetent leadership. “When [God] heard them his anger was aroused” (Nm 11:1).
They wandered for forty years in a wilderness of snakes and scorpions, and except for Joshua and Caleb, not one of the adults of that generation set foot in the Promised Land.
Is there a lesson here for us? Paul thought so: “We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us” (1 Cor 10:9–11).
Grumbling comes at a high cost.