My older brother recently sent me a book he enjoyed titled Kingdom Men Rising by Tony Evans. It was an encouraging and heart-felt book that covered a lot of Tony Evans’s life and ministry, as well as a summons for men to rise up to their biblical calling. One of his biblical insights that stuck out to me was from the story of Joshua.
Tony says, “Great leadership knows how to spot great leadership. Joshua didn’t follow complainers” (Evans, p. 199).
In other words, Tony was sharing about how–as Moses was raising up the next generation of leaders to carry on the mission of God for His people–he was identifying those leaders that would continue a biblical foundation. And the one characteristic that Tony points out of an upcoming leader is his lack of complaining.
What’s fascinating about the story found in Numbers 14 is that it coincides with Israel’s fear of entering the promised land.
“Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!”
Numbers 14:1-2 (Emphasis mine)
This word, grumble, is used sixteen times in the Old Testament. Here’s the interesting part…each time it’s used the people are murmuring against a leader God had appointed or God Himself. Eleven times the grumbling is directed toward Moses and the leadership God had established. The other five times the people of God directed their murmuring against God. WOW!
What does grumble mean?
Grumble actually has two senses depending on the Hebrew verb tense. In the case of the first, the word in Hebrew can mean to dwell or lodge. In the case of the second, it can mean to murmur or grumble.
The verb tense in Numbers 14 and the fifteen other usages mentioned here are the second sense, i.e. to grumble or murmur.
So what is grumbling or murmuring? Practically it is, “to make complaining remarks or noises under one’s breath” (LXHEBANLEX, 2017).
We all not only know what this means. If you have kids you especially know! The reality is, we have either been the recipient of someone’s murmuring or the perpetrator of murmuring.
Bringing it together…
The point is that Moses picked a leader who didn’t grumble against his leadership. Joshua was a man submitted to the will of God, and was able to submit to the person God willed to lead him. Obviously, his submission wasn’t blind loyalty, but it was given so far as Moses followed God’s will.
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
- To murmur is to lack trust…to lack trust is to be self-sufficient…to be self-sufficient is to not need God.
- Thus,
- Biblical leadership has no place for murmurers…
- If you fall here, confess and repent, dust yourself off, and pray for God to give you a heart of gratitude.
- One of the sure fire ways to get a heart of gratitude is to write down in a journal once or so a week the many things you are thankful for in your life.
- Biblical leadership murmurs not against people in positions of authority God has placed over them…
- To be a biblical leader, one must accept their current position in life*.
- Military personnel get this. They salute the position not the person.
- Thus, when David chose not to kill Saul in the cave, he didn’t–even though Saul was acting wickedly–because he was God’s anointed.
- Biblical leaders look for their replacement from the pool of non-murmurers…
- When looking to raise up the next generation, listen to words directed toward superiors and leaders over potential disciples.
- Do they complain and murmur against them? Do they slight them and delicately “drop them in the grease?”
- No one is too far gone, and everyone has potential to change. Not the least of which are murmurers. One of the gifts we can give to others is to model a life free of murmuring!
- When looking to raise up the next generation, listen to words directed toward superiors and leaders over potential disciples.
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world…”
Philippians 2:14-15