This article was written by my daughter-in-law Nancy for The Hammer magazine. It is a good follow-up to Bessie's post on being critical.
Often we think that complaining is wrong if it is about things that are really not so bad. We’ve all heard people who have a higher standard of living than we have complain about their finances. We tell ourselves that they have no right to complain because they are better off than we are. We think it is acceptable to complain if there really is something to complain about. We excuse the complaining that is about difficult circumstances, and we tolerate complaining that is just conversation. But this is not the way God views complaining. God’s response is not like ours.
This verse tells us that their complaining was done in the Lord’s hearing. It’s one thing to complain about your supper when the cook is not present, but it is quite another if the cook is within earshot. In this case, the Lord was in earshot. And of course, in our case, the Lord is in earshot as well. When we complain about real hardships in our lives, the Lord hears. What is His response?
I believe His response is much the same now as it was then. His anger was aroused then and His anger can be aroused now. Complaining is always ultimately against the Lord. We thank God for blessings in our lives such as food, health, and material blessings. It is illogical to suppose that when the circumstances suit us the Lord receives our praise and thanks, but when the circumstances do not please us He does not hear our grumbling.
Complaining and grumbling can come in many forms. The most common is in casual conversation. Everybody complains about rain, snow, cold and heat. But who is responsible for the weather? Who are we complaining about and who is in earshot? Another popular subject for complaint is illness. Sometimes the weather and illness can be real hardships, but usually they are just conversation pieces.
I hear women complain about many things. I am sure men complain as well, but they do not do it in my presence as much as women. Many times women do not complain about real hardships but imagined hardships, or non-hardships. They complain about money, about their house, about their wardrobe, about their husband, about their children, about their work. Many Christians complain about their church, their pastor, their Sunday school, their Christian school, their fellow saints. It is all done in the presence of the Lord. We may forget that He is present, but nevertheless, He hears.
Certainly many people have hardships in their lives, whether it is financial struggles, or illness, or the loss of a loved one. But the Lord wants us to “consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Trials are hardships.
Another subtler form of complaining comes in the guise of apologizing. If God has blessed us in a material way, we can sometimes rob Him of the praise and thanks that He deserves by explaining or apologizing for it to our friends. For example, if God has given me a new car, I may be truly thankful. But then I may worry about how others are going to feel about my new car. So I apologize for it, and my apology becomes a way of complaining. “Well, we really needed it because you should see our old one. It is just a wreck. Everything is falling apart on the inside and it was really too small for our family. We were awfully cramped in it.” Instead of being thankful for the new car, I have now complained about the circumstances that caused us to get the new car.
Sometimes our motives may be to make the others person understand our need for the car so that they will not think we have been extravagant. Even so, God is robbed of the thanks He deserves, and His ears are filled with our complaining.
What about the wife who says her husband is finally taking her out for an evening? There is an undercurrent of complaining in that statement. Or the woman who says that she got a new dress, and boy did she ever need it because her wardrobe is in shambles? And after all, it was on sale. This sounds like humility and good stewardship, but if she has apologized and complained instead of just rejoicing, she has displeased the Lord.
I believe that if all Christians would just begin to be thankful openly and publicly for all of our many blessing and quit complaining about our hardship, the Church would make great strides in winning people to Christ. We are to be a joyful and thankful people. Let’s not make the same mistake that the Israelites did when they complained in the Lord’s hearing about their hardships.
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. (Numbers 11:1)What was it that the Israelites were complaining about? This verse tells us that they complained about their hardships. A hardship is something that is difficult to bear; it is some circumstance that causes discomfort or suffering. In other words, they were not complaining about petty problems, but real hardships.
Often we think that complaining is wrong if it is about things that are really not so bad. We’ve all heard people who have a higher standard of living than we have complain about their finances. We tell ourselves that they have no right to complain because they are better off than we are. We think it is acceptable to complain if there really is something to complain about. We excuse the complaining that is about difficult circumstances, and we tolerate complaining that is just conversation. But this is not the way God views complaining. God’s response is not like ours.
This verse tells us that their complaining was done in the Lord’s hearing. It’s one thing to complain about your supper when the cook is not present, but it is quite another if the cook is within earshot. In this case, the Lord was in earshot. And of course, in our case, the Lord is in earshot as well. When we complain about real hardships in our lives, the Lord hears. What is His response?
I believe His response is much the same now as it was then. His anger was aroused then and His anger can be aroused now. Complaining is always ultimately against the Lord. We thank God for blessings in our lives such as food, health, and material blessings. It is illogical to suppose that when the circumstances suit us the Lord receives our praise and thanks, but when the circumstances do not please us He does not hear our grumbling.
Complaining and grumbling can come in many forms. The most common is in casual conversation. Everybody complains about rain, snow, cold and heat. But who is responsible for the weather? Who are we complaining about and who is in earshot? Another popular subject for complaint is illness. Sometimes the weather and illness can be real hardships, but usually they are just conversation pieces.
I hear women complain about many things. I am sure men complain as well, but they do not do it in my presence as much as women. Many times women do not complain about real hardships but imagined hardships, or non-hardships. They complain about money, about their house, about their wardrobe, about their husband, about their children, about their work. Many Christians complain about their church, their pastor, their Sunday school, their Christian school, their fellow saints. It is all done in the presence of the Lord. We may forget that He is present, but nevertheless, He hears.
Certainly many people have hardships in their lives, whether it is financial struggles, or illness, or the loss of a loved one. But the Lord wants us to “consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Trials are hardships.
Another subtler form of complaining comes in the guise of apologizing. If God has blessed us in a material way, we can sometimes rob Him of the praise and thanks that He deserves by explaining or apologizing for it to our friends. For example, if God has given me a new car, I may be truly thankful. But then I may worry about how others are going to feel about my new car. So I apologize for it, and my apology becomes a way of complaining. “Well, we really needed it because you should see our old one. It is just a wreck. Everything is falling apart on the inside and it was really too small for our family. We were awfully cramped in it.” Instead of being thankful for the new car, I have now complained about the circumstances that caused us to get the new car.
Sometimes our motives may be to make the others person understand our need for the car so that they will not think we have been extravagant. Even so, God is robbed of the thanks He deserves, and His ears are filled with our complaining.
What about the wife who says her husband is finally taking her out for an evening? There is an undercurrent of complaining in that statement. Or the woman who says that she got a new dress, and boy did she ever need it because her wardrobe is in shambles? And after all, it was on sale. This sounds like humility and good stewardship, but if she has apologized and complained instead of just rejoicing, she has displeased the Lord.
I believe that if all Christians would just begin to be thankful openly and publicly for all of our many blessing and quit complaining about our hardship, the Church would make great strides in winning people to Christ. We are to be a joyful and thankful people. Let’s not make the same mistake that the Israelites did when they complained in the Lord’s hearing about their hardships.
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