Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, April 12, 2026. This week is No. 5,039 of the broadcast.
Murmuring is a word we’re all familiar with. It’s easy to murmur when inconvenience, disruption or difficulty present themselves. The scriptures tell of individuals and multitudes who — at least temporarily, in moments of murmuring — forgot their connection to God and His power to deliver them.
Take, for example, the children of Israel, who, during their wilderness journey, frequently murmured against Moses — and ultimately against God (see Exodus 16:7–8). Their murmuring culminated in disobedience, which delayed their entrance into the promised land and prolonged their years in the wilderness (see Numbers 14:22-23, 29-34; Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
Interestingly, in Hebrew, the root of the word often translated as “murmur” can also mean “to lodge,” “to remain” or “to pass the night.” (See “Lûn,” Blue Letter Bible, blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3885.)
In a way, the people of Moses camping in the wilderness did more than murmur or complain — they lodged and remained in their murmuring. In other words, they seemed to camp in their complaint.
Thousands of years later, it’s just as easy to get caught up in our own modern-day murmuring and sometimes to lodge or remain in it. Perhaps one antidote to murmuring, in ancient times and in our own, is to remember God, to remember His promises and to remember where He is leading us.
His promise is not that we will never struggle or that we will always understand. Rather, He says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:10).
The Israelites murmured, in part, because they failed to look forward to where God was leading them. Instead, they looked back, longing for the past, focusing on their present discomforts. So it can be with us. If we look only at our present situation, without lifting our eyes to the future God has promised, we too may be prone to murmur. God offers a grand destination for each of us, and that is to be home with Him.
Choosing to remember God mutes our murmuring. Focusing on Him and acting on His promises points us forward. And so, in those moments that are hard, when the days feel long or when hope seems distant, let us remember that the same God who delivered Israel still delivers His children today.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
