Exodus 17 : 1-7

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

In the passage the children of Israel were whining about water, they could have asked Moses, and why did they doubt God after coming out of Egypt?

Finish Whining and Start Winning

Desolation in the wilderness

1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

When we are in Sin, we live in desolation. Whining is a consequence of living in Sin.

Jude 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

When you live in discontent, guilt and depression, you whine. Negative emotions can be replaced with positive emotion with Godly things, walking in the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Positive results come from walking in the spirit.

1 John 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

The reason why you are whining and sinning is because you do not have faith. Without faith, there is no winning.

But you want to do what the flesh wants to do. The flesh doesn’t want to read the Bible, pray, do soul-winning, it will do whatever it wants, and you will not be able to win for Jesus Christ.

To break the cycle, you need to want to win, change your life for Jesus Christ.

Drama in the Wilderness

3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

4 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

Dramatizing problems is an issue that afflicts many Christians.

Acts 25:7 And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.

The danger of whining is to mingle to drama. Our mind will focus on it and make the pain worse. This is an unnecessary burden that you created in your mind.

Have a critical mindset, is that really a problem? Am I the only one going through it? Or is something that my flesh and mind created?

Put the question to critique:

1 Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

Shame.  Shame will be what you will experience at the Judgment seat for whining and not winning.

 

Drink in the Wilderness

5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Hebrew 11 – we are strangers in the wilderness in this world.

Isaiah 53: 4-5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Joy, peace, justification salvation, sanctification are few of the rewards that we can expect from God when we serve him.

But we keep whining and complaining of the drink that Jesus Christ gave us when he was mocked, beaten and crucified on the cross. Every time we whine, Jesus takes it all. We should be grateful and guilty that when we are whining, we should be punished at the Calvary but Jesus takes them all for us.

When God gives you a drink – it will come with few bumps on the road. It should be obvious in the Christian life. For example, the actors and actresses that win awards at Oscars know that in order to get the award, they’ll have to wake up early, train their bodies. They do not whine about it. These are expected bumps on the road on the way to win.

Division in the wilderness

7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?

What is the root cause of division? Tempting the Lord. When you are testing God, putting God on trial because you do not believe, that is why whine – you do not have faith.

As Christians, we should put our whining on trial, pray to the Lord to help to show you your problem and sins. It’s important to memorise the bible to help to diminish the whining and increasing your faith.

 

Deuteronomy 32:15,18-20

But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

[…]

18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

Finish your whining and start winning.

When you live in comfort you do not know what is discomfort. Until God puts you in a situation, until God removes the blessing. Quit your whining or God will take the blessing that you should have been grateful about in the first place.

Satan will trick you by taking you down with him and stealing that crown that you have earned.