When we purchase an electrical appliance, there is one thing that we need to look at first before we use it: That is the manual. Only after we read through the manual about the product’s features, instructions on how to use it, warnings and so on, can we use the product properly for a long time without any problems.

As a manual includes all the information about the product, so the Bible offers us all the instructions and guidance to go to heaven. To put it simply, the Bible is a “manual for salvation.” The 66 books of the Bible specifically illustrates the way to heaven according to God’s direct teachings, and gives us object lessons by describing the spiritual state of those who were saved and of those who were destroyed and also portraying the patterns of their speech and behavior.

Throughout the history of the Israelites’ 40-year journey in the desert, we can find out the major reason why they were destroyed; they grumbled against God instead of giving thanks to Him, which evoked God’s wrath and led them to destruction. Thus, if we lose gratitude, we come to grumble.

The Bible―the manual for salvation―also states that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven with a grumbling attitude.

God loves us until the end of time. We, people of Zion, should always be thankful to God for working for our salvation without rest and bestowing upon us His unchanging and eternal love.

Complaint arises in the absence of gratitude

There was an experiment on human psychology at a university. One residential district was selected and a 10 dollar bill was placed in front of the door of each house in that district every day. The main purpose of the experiment was to observe the residents’ reactions. The test lasted for a month.

On the first day, the residents were pleased to find money unexpectedly as they were leaving their homes. They looked around and quickly put it into their pockets as soon as they were sure that nobody was watching them. On the second day, too, they found the money again and put it into their pockets after making sure nobody saw them. As this happened on the third day and the forth day, the residents started to wonder who put money in front of their houses. Some of them caught a glance at the dropper through their windows.

After a week, a rumor spread over the village. They whispered among themselves that they were grateful to the anonymous person who put the 10 dollar bills every day. They showed both curiosity and gratitude to the anonymous person and another week passed.

During the third week, they were not grateful to or curious about the dropper any more; it became natural for them to pick up bills every day. During the forth week, they took it for granted to put bills into their pockets.

On the last day of the experiment, the dropper just passed by, not putting any money in front of the houses. The residents saw this and said, “How outrageous he is!” “How come he doesn’t leave any money? What’s wrong with him?” Saying that, they pointed their fingers at him.

Forgetting the gratitude they had conceived at first, they even pointed at the dropper who gave them physical help for a month. Seeing the result of this experiment, I felt sad because this vividly showed that it is human nature to be ungrateful.

Think about how many things God gives us freely! We are living comfortably on this planet earth where all the conditions necessary for life, such as sunlight, fresh air and so on, are satisfied, and we are making use of all things in nature created by God. Actually, all the harmonized creatures that were made in accordance with God’s providence are a gift freely given by God every day.

Among the things around us, there is nothing that we haven’t received from God (1 Co 4:7). Nevertheless, like the residents in the aforementioned experiment, we tend to take everything for granted as if we deserve it, rather than giving thanks to God. We grumble and complain to God if He does not grant any single request, even though everything lies in Him—it is up to Him whether He gives or not. It is a great mistake for mankind to grumble against God without giving thanks to Him for His grace.

God has prepared everything for His people. He has even suspended our execution for sin and opened the way to salvation so that we may have the forgiveness of our sins by repenting while living on this earth. We cannot help but thank God for His grace from beginning to end.

Lessons from the desert life

Through the Bible which is the manual for salvation, God shows us that the way to be saved and to enter the kingdom of heaven is to live a life of gratitude in everything. To help us understand this, God has showed us Israel’s forty-year desert sojourn as a mirror.

1 Co 10:1-12 . . . our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the Sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink . . . Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting out hearts on evil things as they did . . . And do not grumble, as some of them did-and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

One of the major reasons that the majority of the Israelites were destroyed in the desert was because they grumbled against God, not giving thanks to Him. Although God had prepared everything for His people, they did not realize it and failed to give thanks to God, and God was not pleased with them.

We should march towards the eternal heavenly Canaan, always studying the Bible and obeying the teachings of God. In the desert of faith, we may feel somewhat exhausted physically, but if we endure and give thanks all the time, depending on God through prayer, God will be well pleased with us.

In Exodus 16, let’s look into the history of the Israelites who were destroyed because they grumbled against God, not giving thanks to Him in all circumstances.

Ex 16:1-5 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelite said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

God rained down manna from heaven for the Israelites to eat for 40 years.

At first, they marveled at this and gave glory and thanks to God for having manna daily because they had not been able to find any food in the desolate desert filled with only sand and gravel.

As time went by, however, they changed. At first, they called the manna “wafers made with honey” and ate it deliciously, but later they started to grumble, saying that the manna was miserable food (Ex 16:31; Nu 21:5).

They completely forgot the grace of God who performed the unimaginable miracles such as dividing the Red Sea and protecting them with a pillar of cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night.

God withdrew His hands of protection from them, saying that they were not worthy to enter the land of Canaan. As a result, the six hundred thousand men died in the desert and only Joshua and Caleb entered the land of Canaan. All this was caused by their grumbling.

We should not doubt the love of God who always leads us to the way of life, and we must not grumble against God for many difficult situations that occur to us while we are participating in God’s great work of salvation.

When time passes, we will realize that all the paths that we have walked are the best ways which God has prepared for us.

Give thanks in all circumstances

Since many people all around the world are now receiving the truth and gathering to Zion, I worry that there might be some members who fail to get rid of their worldly thoughts and habits. If we become disappointed with brothers and sisters and doubt the power and love of God because of the things that do not go the way we want, we come to grumble and complain and eventually lose our gratitude towards God.

If there is anyone who is unstable in faith, from now on he or she should live according to the manual God has given us. God let the history of the Israelites, who grumbled and were destroyed, be written down as a warning for us, and told us to be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.

1 Th 5:14-18 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The Bible, the manual for salvation, instructs us that we are to be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances. Those who do not give thanks but complain, regardless of the manual, will not have gracious results no matter how much effort they put into preaching the gospel.

Heavenly Father and Mother have called us, who committed sin in heaven and continued to sin on this earth as well, into the truth and opened the way for us to go back to our heavenly home. Heavenly Father and Mother have loved us as Themselves and confirmed Their unfailing love for us by saving us through Their blood of sacrifice.

They do not deserve to hear any complaints from us. We cannot thank Them enough even if we give thanks to Them a thousand times, ten thousands times and more.

Even though our physical life is troublesome and painful, we deserve it.

Even if God gives us a more painful punishment, we should willingly submit to it. If we continually offer a prayer of thanks to God who is with us to the end and guides our souls in the right direction, God will be pleased with us and give us more grace and blessings, so that we can thank Him even more.

We, who have learned the teachings of the new covenant, should change every day to resemble Christ by removing our wrong thoughts, habits and behaviors that we used to have. Let us put the manual of God into practice: “Be gentle,” “Be humble,” “Be united,” “Give thanks in all circumstances,” and so on. That is the best shortcut to the kingdom of heaven.

Although we grumbled and complained in the past, if we change now and are joyful always, praying continually and giving thanks to God in all circumstances, we are able to enter the kingdom of heaven. We should not lose our gratitude towards God in any circumstance, following the teachings of the Bible. I earnestly hope that we, the people of Zion, will all enter the eternal kingdom of God, believing it is God’s will and providence that we go through trials and hardships so that we can be refined like pure gold.