Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .
m u r m u r i n g A g a i n s t g o d ( 2 RELATED PHRASES ) |
The phrase 'murmuring against God' appears 14 times in the published writings of EGW See page on Original site Related Phrase: murmured against God ( ) - - murmuring against Moses ( ) - - rebellion against God ( )
| The Babel builders had indulged the spirit of murmuring against God. Instead of gratefully remembering His mercy to Adam and His gracious covenant with Noah, they had complained of His severity in expelling the first pair from Eden and destroying the world by a flood. But while they murmured against God as arbitrary and severe, they were accepting the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. Satan was seeking to bring contempt upon the sacrificial offerings that prefigured the death of Christ; and as the minds of the people were darkened by idolatry, he led them to counterfeit these offerings and sacrifice their own children upon the altars of their gods. As men turned away from God, the divine attributes--justice, purity, and love--were supplanted by oppression, violence, and brutality. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 120.3
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| Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity, the peace and content that were his until he indulged in murmuring against God, and envy of Christ. His accusations, his rebellion, his deceptions to gain the sympathy and support of the angels, his stubborn persistence in making no effort for self-recovery when God would have granted him forgiveness --all come vividly before him. He reviews his work among men and its results--the enmity of man toward his fellow man, the terrible destruction of life, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the long succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and to sink man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots have been powerless to destroy those who have put their trust in Jesus. As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit of his toil, he sees only failure and ruin. He has led the multitudes to believe that the City of God would be an easy prey; but he knows that this is false. Again and again, in the progress of the great controversy, he has been defeated and compelled to yield. He knows too well the power and majesty of the Eternal. {GC 669.2} also { 4SP 485.1 }
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| Adam's repentance, evidenced by his sorrow for his transgression and his hope of salvation through Christ, shown by his works in the sacrifices offered, were a disappointment to Satan. He hoped forever to gain Adam to unite with him in murmuring against God and in rebelling against His authority. Cain and Abel were representatives of the two great classes. Abel, as priest, in solemn faith offered his sacrifice. Cain was willing to offer the fruit of his ground, but refused to connect with his offering the blood of beasts. His heart refused to show his repentance for sin, and his faith in a Saviour, by offering the blood of beasts. He refused to acknowledge his need of a Redeemer. This, to his proud heart, was dependence and humiliation. {Con 22.2}
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| Adam's repentance, evidenced in his sorrow for his transgression, and his hope of salvation through Christ shown by his works in the sacrifices offered, was a disappointment to Satan. He hoped forever to gain Adam to unit with him in murmuring against God, and in rebelling against his authority. Here were the representatives of the two great classes. Abel as priest offered in solemn faith his sacrifice. Cain was willing to offer the fruit of his ground, but refused to connect with his offering the blood of beasts. His heart refused to show his repentance for sin and his faith in a Saviour by offering the blood of beasts. He refused to acknowledge his need of a Redeemer. This to his proud heart was dependence and humiliation. {RH, March 3, 1874 par. 3}
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| The Lord allowed Moses to choose for himself the men whom he knew could be the best helpers. These men had shown faithfulness and order in their position as officers and elders, and now they were chosen to bear higher responsibilities. They were to be authority to check the violence of the people and quell any insurrection that might arise. But had Moses shown simple trust and confidence in God, corresponding to his great goodness and mercy, these men would not have been chosen. Serious trouble would eventually result from their enlarged authority. God would have guarded his servant continually, and strengthened him in every emergency, had he relied fully upon him. Moses was not excusable in so nearly imitating the people in murmuring against God. He magnified his burdens and services, when the Lord was really the worker, and he only the instrument. Poor, weak human nature, how little is it to be trusted! {ST, August 12, 1880 par. 7}
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The sin of Moses was not premeditated. He was surprised into it. He took to himself the murmuring of the people when they were really murmuring against God. {10MR 159.6} |
| Moses faithfully set before the people their great sin in murmuring against God. He pointed them to the fact that every day of their travels in the wilderness they had been preserved by a miracle of divine mercy. The Majesty of Heaven had prepared the way before them. Their feet had not swollen in their long journeys, neither had their clothes grown old. There was no sickness in all their ranks. God had given them food from Heaven, and water from the rock. He had subdued before them the strong and dangerous beasts, as well as the serpents, that inhabited forest and wilderness. If the people still complained, with all these tokens of his love, the Lord would continue to send judgments upon them, until they should appreciate his merciful care. {ST, October 28, 1880 par. 4}
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| Cain invites Abel to walk with him in the fields, and he there gives utterance to his unbelief and his murmuring against God. He claims that he was doing well in presenting his offering; and the more he talks against God, and impeaches his justice and mercy in rejecting his own offering and accepting that of his brother Abel, the more bitter are his feelings of anger and resentment. {ST, December 16, 1886 par. 11}
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| Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, were unlike in character. Cain cherished feelings of rebellion and murmuring against God because of the curse pronounced upon the ground and upon the human race for Adam's sin; while Abel had a spirit of meekness and of submission to the authority of God. {ST, December 16, 1886 par. 2}
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| Instead of murmuring against God |
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Instead of murmuring against God in times of trial, let us remember that Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, suffered being tempted. Jesus did not permit the enemy to plunge him into the mire of unbelief, despondency, and despair. But how often we permit it, and because we have but little moral power, not doing the works of Christ, we do not resist the first insinuations of the evil one! The promise is given: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." How precious to the tempted soul is this positive promise! If anyone is tempted, let him keep his eyes upon Jesus, and draw nigh to God, talking of his goodness and mercy. When the tempted soul realizes that Jesus is drawing nigh unto him, the annoyances that he thought unbearable will vanish. "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." {ST, August 28, 1893 par. 4}
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