Complaining and Thanksgiving
September 10, 2007
Dear Friends,
When the children of Israel were being brought out of Egypt, they had a tendency to complain. They complained several times about being hungry and thirsty. As you know, God dealt severely with them for their complaining. Many paid for their complaints with their very lives. It goes without saying that God was absolutely right in dealing with them in the way in which He did. To be honest, however, I do feel sympathy for them. You see, the children of Israel complained about being hungry and thirsty. These are very basic needs. What sort of things have I complained about? I complain when my children leave their rooms a mess. I complain when I am driving and someone pulls out in front of me. I was complaining (at least mentally) this very morning that one of my neighbors won’t keep their dogs up and were disturbing my morning run. The children of Israel made God furious with their complaining about being hungry and thirsty, how much more will God be displeased with complaining about such minor irritants?
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians “do everything without complaining.” Why? What is so wrong with it in the first place? What is so wrong with complaining is that we are not grateful to God for whatever position He has put us in. If we truly believe that “all things work together for good to them that love God” we can know that where we are is where we need to be. There are no mistakes. When we complain, we are saying, in effect, that God doesn’t know what He is doing. “I shouldn’t be here in the wilderness with no food and water. God must have somehow made a mistake.” When we understand what we are really saying, it is perhaps easier to see why complaining is sinful.
The opposite of complaining is thanksgiving. When my kids were little, I forbade them to complain about the food. To me, it was inconsistent to at one moment bow our heads in prayer and thank God for the food and then a moment later complain about that very same food for which we had just given thanks.
A few years ago, my back went out. This was not normal pain, but terrible, bring-tears-to-your-eyes pain. It got so bad that when I went to see the physical therapist, I literally could not get off the table. As I lay there, I remember thinking that I ought to pray and thank God for my bad back. My prayer went something like this. “Lord, thank you for my bad back. I don’t know what you are trying to tell me in this trial, but please help me to learn it.” This did a couple of things. First, it brought clarity to my situation. I was there. God was there. It was just as it needed to be. Second, it made my bad back a spiritual experience and not just a moment of frustration. To complain about it rather than give thanks would have made the moment worse, not better. Ephesians 5:20 tells us we should give thanks for “all things” not just what we deem to be good things.
Here is another secret about complaining. In addition to God not liking to hear complaining, other people don’t like hearing it either. You probably know some people who complain a lot. Do they have a wide circle of friends? Doubtful. People know that when they get finished listening to a lot of complaining they don’t feel so good about things. Complaining is like a cancer. It spreads. We should do our best to avoid doing it and receiving it from others as well.
With all of this said, please do not think that I am saying that we should be apathetic. Don’t think I am saying that when we have a splinter in our toe, we thank God for the splinter and leave it in. We can both thank God for the splinter and the tweezers to remove it. And by the way, there is nothing worse than the person who has the proverbial splinter in their toe, does nothing to get it out and yet complains about it incessantly. That goes for any situation.
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 our hearts on evil things as they did.. And do not grumble, as some of them did-and were killed by the destroying angel. (1 Cor. 10:5,6,10 NIV)
Have a great week,
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