Introduction
This past Lord’s Day we found the people of God on the move and learn that they are not adjusting well. Instead of patiently and faithfully entrusting themselves to God, they began to grumble and complain about his provision, or lack thereof. When we see their grumbling, especially in light of what has just transpired in the Red Sea crossing, we are immediately struck by it and we understand how out of place such a response is.
And at the same time, particularly for ourselves, as Jerry Bridges notes in his book Respectable Sins, we carve out a category of sins that we tend to tolerate—sins that feel small, acceptable, even invisible in everyday life. Among them is grumbling. We rarely rank it alongside what we consider “serious” sins.
But Scripture does not share our relaxed attitude. Nowhere is this clearer than in the book of Exodus, where grumbling is treated not as a minor flaw, but as a profound spiritual problem. The plan in this post to explore this great sin not only in Exodus, but in other portions of God’s word.
From Glory to Grumbling
Exodus 14–15 is one of the high points of redemptive history. Israel witnesses the collapse of Egypt’s power at the Red Sea. They sing, they rejoice, they celebrate the triumph of the LORD as a warrior.
And then—almost immediately—they grumble.
“And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’” (Exodus 15:24)
Three days. That’s all it took.
This pattern becomes a refrain throughout Exodus:
- No water → grumbling (Exodus 15:24)
- No food → grumbling (Exodus 16:2)
- No security → grumbling (Exodus 17:3)
The issue is not merely discomfort. It is distrust. Grumbling reveals a heart that questions the goodness, wisdom, and presence of God.
A Brief Word Study: What Is “Grumbling”?
The Hebrew word often translated “grumble” in Exodus is לון (lun). It carries the sense of murmuring, complaining, or lodging a complaint against someone—often quietly, under the breath, but persistently.
It is not a momentary cry of pain (like many of the Psalms). It is a settled disposition of dissatisfaction directed toward God’s provision.
In the Greek New Testament, a similar word appears: γογγύζω (gogguzō)—an onomatopoeic term that sounds like what it describes: low, muttering discontent. It shows up in places like John 6 and 1 Corinthians 10:10, where Paul looks back to Exodus and explicitly warns believers:
“Nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”
Grumbling, biblically, is not just emotional leakage—it is covenantal rebellion.
Why Grumbling Is So Serious
- It Rewrites Reality
Israel had just seen the Red Sea split. Yet in their grumbling, they speak as though God had abandoned them:
“Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt…” (Exodus 16:3)
Grumbling distorts memory. It edits out God’s faithfulness and exaggerates present discomfort.
- It Rejects God’s Rule
In Exodus 16:8, Moses says something crucial:
“Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”
Grumbling may sound horizontal (“This situation is bad”), but it is ultimately vertical (“God, You are not doing this right”).
- It Spreads Quickly
Grumbling is contagious. Exodus repeatedly emphasizes that “all the congregation” grumbled. Discontent rarely stays contained—it infects communities, families, and churches.
Jude 1 and the Echo of Rebellion
Epistle of Jude warns about those who live in ongoing rebellion against God and ties their fate to earlier acts of divine judgment:
“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority… he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness…” (Jude 1:6)
Just a few verses later, Jude describes these false teachers as “grumblers, malcontents” (Jude 1:16).
That connection is intentional. Grumbling is not an isolated flaw; it belongs to a larger pattern of resisting God’s authority. The same spirit that led angels to rebel shows up, in seed form, in our complaints against God’s ordering of our lives.
That should recalibrate how we see it.
Grumbling vs. Godly Lament
It’s important to distinguish grumbling from biblical lament, which is a feature seen throughout the psalms. The question becomes how is what the psalmist doing differently than what the Israelites do in the Exodus? For as was mentioned in the sermon, we justify grumbling by saying that we are just acknowledging reality or the way things actually are. I submit to you that there is a huge difference and it can be observed below.
- Lament brings complaint to God in faith.
- Grumbling complains about God in unbelief.
The Psalms are full of cries like, “How long, O LORD?” But those cries are anchored in trust. Grumbling, by contrast, closes itself off from trust and settles into accusation.
Why This Matters for Us
We may not be wandering in the wilderness, but the conditions that produced Israel’s grumbling are familiar:
- Unmet expectations
- Physical discomfort
- Uncertain futures
And our response often mirrors theirs.
We grumble about:
- Our schedules
- Our families
- Our churches
- Our circumstances
And in doing so, we reveal something deeper than inconvenience—we reveal what we believe about God and his provision.
A Call to Examine Our Words
Grumbling is subtle, but Scripture brings it into the light and calls it what it is: sin.
Not to crush us—but to wake us up.
Because the opposite of grumbling is not stoicism. It is faith.
Faith remembers.
Faith trusts.
Faith gives thanks—even in the wilderness.
And ultimately, faith looks to Christ—the true and better Israel—who endured the wilderness without grumbling and entrusted Himself fully to the Father. The fruit of which is our salvation and a future entrance into the promised land which includes being in the presence of God and never had need of anything.
Sermon Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADLBPXyhRxw