Winners And Whiners

"not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times. not one of them will ever see the land I promised..." 

- Numbers 14:22-23 

I have noticed that the world is divided into two kinds of people; the winners and the whiners. Whiners can be found on wholesale, the shelves are full of them. They come in bulk. Whiners are always ready to complain and give excuses why they “can’t”. Two million whiners did not see the promise that God gave them because of their whining. They touched God’s heart with their cry, they heard his promise, they saw his miraculous works, they tasted his goodness and smelled the fragrance of freedom. Still they complained. 

God was not exaggerating when he said that ten times they tested him:

They didn’t believe. Twice!(Ex. 14:11-12, Nm. 14:1-4)
Disobeyed Him. Twice!(Ex. 16:20, 16:27-29)
Worshipped something else other than Him. (Ex. 32:7-10)
and... They complained... FIVE TIMES!(Ex. 15:24, 16:3, 17:2-3, Nm. 11:1-2, 11:4)
This is what whiners do:
They worship themselves, something or someone other than God. They don’t think twice when facing a crucial decision, they find it easy to come up with excuses to disobey God. They don’t fully believe that he is able and that nothing is impossible to him. And, this is perhaps the most basic and loudest of them all... they whine and complain... ALL THE TIME!
Winners on the other hand are handmade, they are precious rare items found in small alley shops. They refuse to settle for the ordinary, they see opportunities instead of obstacles. Joshua and Caleb are great examples of winners. They trusted God to the core. They brought the minority report refusing to go with the majority. They saw opportunities instead of obstacles. They found reasons to move forward and take ground instead of coming up with excuses to shrink back.
Winners will not only see God’s miraculous power in action, but they will also ‘possess the land’. They may not lead a comfortable life but they will certainly lead a totally fulfilling one. They fully obey and trust God walking in total freedom as a result. And when they die they leave a legacy.
Are you a winner or a whiner?