A heart of thanksgiving

Grumble, grumble, grumble, complain, complain, complain.  Grumble, grumble, gru….. wait a minute.

The Israelites not complaining?  The Israelites rejoicing?

Amazing!

But that’s exactly what you see here.  After multiple complaints about no food or water, here you see God providing water for the people and their response.

Spring up O well,
Sing about it,
about the well that the princes dug,
that the nobles of the people sank—
the nobles with scepters and staffs.  (Numbers 21:17-18)

How often do we have a heart of thanksgiving?

How often, instead, do we complain about our lives and all our troubles?

I know I’m guilty of that far too often.  As often as I criticize the Israelites for complaining so much, too many times, I’m just like them.

And yet, God has given me so many good things.

A beautiful wife.  An adorable daughter.  Friends.  A decent job.  A place to live.  Food to eat.

In short, everything I need.

But more than that, God has given me eternal life.

As Jesus told the woman at the well,

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  (John 4:14)

There is an old chorus that I remember from when I was a kid.  It said,

I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me.
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see.

Opens prison doors, sets the captives free.
I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me.

Spring up O well.
Within my soul.
Spring up O well.
And make me whole.
Spring up O well.
And give to me that life abundantly.