“Do all things without murmurings and disputings:”
Philippians 2:14
I know I find myself complaining about a lot of things. More often than not I am complaining without even realizing that I am complaining! Did you know that in the Old Testament, God put more people to death for complaining than any other sin in the Old Testament! We are constantly complaining. The weather is too cold, it is too hot. We are too short, or too tall, too many freckles, our nose is too big, our feet are too small. My food is not just right, send it back to the cook. You are not treating me properly, I demand to speak to the manager. Lucy Van Pelt said it this way, “All I want is my fair share. All I want is what is coming to me!”
Paul tells the Corinthian church in I Corinthians 10:10: “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.”
Complaining is a sin? I would say so. When the children of Israel were complaining in the wilderness wanderings, many of them were struck down. In fact, that is why they were wandering in the desert to begin with. They were complaining about their situation. They were free from bondage of slavery but yet they were reminiscing about the “wonderful” days that they had when they were in slavery!
Does that sound familiar? Those of us who have been freed from the slavery of sin are complaining because we do not have it as good as we would like, if we could just do things differently we would have more and be able to do more. In other words, we are complaining about the situation God has allowed us to be in, that is pretty close if not right on the nose of telling God we don’t like what he is doing in our lives and He should work things out differently. We are focusing our attention on the things we don’t have, rather than the things we do have!
So, why are we telling God what to do? I don’t think it is a conscious thing all the time. We have an adversary whispering in our ear sometimes, telling us how much better things would be if we would do things differently – if we would just “follow our heart”! “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
Why would we do that? Apparently, Satan or one of his minions is sitting near all the time trying to give us shortcuts to get around God’s instructions. That has been going on since time began! It happened with Eve in the Garden of Eden – Satan came to her and convinced her to go around God’s plan for Eden and she would then have as much wisdom as God Himself. Some of the time the devil might make us do it, but more often than not we don’t need his help to be wicked because the heart has become so worldly that he can just sit back in his arm chair and relax. It’s like he can just sit back and watch all the chaos, just like us sitting around, watching episodes of “Cops”.
I wonder how many unsaved people we influence to stay that way, just because of all the murmuring we do? It is pretty much like nicotine, it is habit forming and it stains us, sometimes making us have sick souls. If we are stained, that light inside of us just cannot shine very brightly.
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”
Philippians 2:15
AE
Do you remember the YouTube video from ages ago? It shows a woman who has a nail in her forehead. She wants to talk to the man about it, and he wants to fix the problem. She’s upset because she doesn’t want him to do anything. She just wants him to listen to her complain. That always annoyed me so much.
It is very easy to complain. When we look around us right now, there is so much negative that it seems almost weird not to complain. But complaining doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t solve our problems. The only thing complaining really does is cause us to dwell more on the problems without offering solutions. When we complain we drag others into our complaining and we end up having pity parties. Dad mentioned the complaining of the Israelites in the Bible when they wandered in the desert for 40 years. I can imagine myself wandering around in the hot desert for 40 years. I don’t just think I would complain. I know I would.
We look at the world right now, and yes, it’s a mess. But there is so much for which to be thankful. Gratitude is the opposite of all the complaining. If we really want to stop whining we need to start counting all of our blessings, and praise God for all he has done for us. Instead of complaining let’s focus on the things we can do to make life better. Share the gospel. There is no better news!
Psalm 9:1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works.
GA
Voice of the Introverts 