It's hot! It's cold! I'm hungry! I'm thirsty! But everyone else has one! It's not fair. Why me? Complain, complain, complain. God hates complaining. If you really want to ignite God's anger, then grumble away. It's what the Israelites did throughout the Old Testament. Start in Exodus 14:10. The Israelites have just left Egypt and have come to the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his army are chasing after them. Take a look at verses 11 - 12. "They said to Moses, 'Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?' It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!'" These people had just witnessed ten terrifying plagues in Egypt. Moses has spent time showing the power of God to Pharaoh and at the first moment of fright, the people freak out. God saves them, of course, and uses Moses to part the Red Sea. The Israelites cross safely and Pharaoh's army is swept away. The people rejoice in song, but almost immediately they return to their complaining.
This time, it is about water. Exodus 15:23-24. "When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, 'What are we to drink?'" They did not ask for water. They did not ask for anything to drink. They simply complained that there was nothing to drink. All we have to do is ask. God will provide. The same applies today. Matthew 7:7. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." My children complain about being thirsty all the time. "I'm thirsty!" And I respond, "That's a complaint. Don't complain. Ask." Then I get, "May I have a drink?" All we have to do is ask. Just a few verses later, in verse 11 it says, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Sometimes we go without because we didn't ask!
God provides, despite the complaints. The complaints don't go away; they get worse. Look at Exodus 16:3. "The Israelites 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." Doesn't this sound a little dramatic to you? Oh, "If only we had died!" God responds by providing manna and quail. The Israelites had grumbled against Moses, or so they thought, as he was their leader, but in verse 8, Moses makes it quite clear that the grumbling was really against the Lord. It says, "Moses also said, 'You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord." Consider what Moses just said. When we complain and grumble against our leaders, we are really grumbling against God. Who are you to complain about what God gives or doesn't give?
You would think, that after all that God had shown, that the people of Israel would trust the Lord to provide for them, but they don't. In chapter 17 of Exodus we again see the people complain about being thirsty. Exodus 17:3-4. "But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?' Then Moses cried out to the Lord, 'What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.'" How quickly they forget! How quick do we forget? Look back at verse 2. "So they quarreled with Moses and said, 'Give us water to drink.' Moses replied, 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?' When we complain and argue, we reveal a serious lack of faith in God. Why would we put Him to the test after He has already demonstrated His mighty power and His love by providing previously? Do you really trust the Lord? If you do, then silence your complaints!
In the book of Numbers we begin to see God's wrath come down on the people for their complaints. Numbers 11:1. "Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp." Complaining is displeasing to the Lord. The complaining doesn't end though! Numbers 11:4-6. "The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" God heard them and He sent quail. Look at verse 19 to see just how much quail he sent. "You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month - until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it - because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'" Notice that God's anger doesn't come from them wanting meat - it comes from them complaining about leaving Egypt. They had cried out to God because the yoke of their slavery was so heavy and now they spurned the gifts God had already bestowed upon them. We need to quit complaining about how great the past was because it wasn't. But God did more than send them more quail than they could stand. Look at Numbers 11:33. "But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague." God does not put up with complaining or arguing. You need to watch your tongue.
Philippians 2:14 says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing." EVERYTHING. Easy times, hard times, whatever it is, don't complain. Rejoice because God is all-knowing, all-powerful and He's got everything under His control. Trust Him.
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