This is a Modern Flannelgraph post.
The book of Numbers is a great place to learn about complaining. Sure, Numbers probably isn’t really top of your list for daily Bible reading. I get that.
- It’s in the Old Testament (and all the good stuff’s in the New Testament, right?).
- It’s in the Pentateuch. (That’s the first five books, the Books of Moses.)
- It’s boring — long lists of each tribe broken down by families is not so exciting.
So we don’t head to Numbers for light devotional reading, I know. But for Bible study, I was reading Numbers 11 this week. And it was a very telling story…
The Scene
Numbers 11: 1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD…
The people of Israel, maybe 2 million strong, were only a year out of slavery in Egypt. They were being organized, counted, trained. God was doing a lot of prep work with the whole lot of them before he moved them on toward his eventual goal: the Promised Land.
And in response…they complained. In God’s hearing. And he was most displeased. Just like he always is when we complain.
So, in this passage, God’s anger burns, literally, against them. The fire of the Lord consumes areas near the outside of the camp, and only when Moses prays for the people is the fire quenched. Yikes.
The Problem
I’ve never seen the literal “fire of the Lord” thankfully. But I have a lot of experience with complaining. And clearly, God’s reaction here indicates that no matter how “normal” we think complaining is, it’s a very big problem.
Why is that?
Well, I went back, out of curiosity, to Numbers 10. One of the keys to Bible study is context, pay attention to what’s going on around the passage so that we interpret it carefully and (hopefully) correctly. And in Numbers 10, we find something very interesting. There was absolutely NOTHING there to complain about. Nothing.
Just before the complaining starts, God’s presence, in the form of a cloud, lifts from the tabernacle and starts the entire company on the move. Every tribe breaks camp carefully and in order. The Levites move the pieces of the tabernacle as they were supposed to. Everything was going according to plan.
Not only that, they had expert guidance. God was leading them, first of all. But also, Moses’s father-in-law was there, and Moses asked him to come along since he knew “where to camp in the wilderness” and could “be their eyes” (10:31). Sounds great.
Lastly, they traveled with God’s presence and with a purpose. God was with them, in the cloud, the entire way (10:34). And the ark of the covenant–also representing God’s presence–went ahead of them to find a place to rest (10:33). This was a three-day journey with a purpose. Just like a drive to the beach, this was a trip that was supposed to end with peace. God wasn’t leading them to battle. This trip was going to end with rest.
The Question
So we have to ask ourselves…what in the heck were they complaining about? According to Numbers 11:1, they were complaining about their hardships.
Their what?!?
Everything was going well. But they focused on their hardships. You know, it was three days. They were tired. That other family in the clan got to walk ahead of them in line. The food was getting boring. And…and…and I suddenly recognized myself.
Because my life has very, very few problems. I have a beautiful house with a family I love. We have food that overflows from shelves and cupboards. We lack for nothing. I type these words on a big, nice computer next to a large window with a lovely view. I have about 45 pairs of socks.
I have literally nothing to complain about.
But I still do.
I complain about my kids’ interruptions. That someone ate the last helping of my favorite cereal. That all that snow is now dissolving into a muddy yucky mess everywhere.
I complain about how slowly the guy in front of me is driving. How no one helps around the house. How things didn’t go the way I wanted them to go. How my life is just.so.hard.
And it’s no wonder that God sees complaining as a really big deal. It is.
Complaining says that God’s somehow messing up. That I somehow deserve more than what I’ve got. That this thing/circumstance/person/event is keeping me from being comfortable…which, at the heart, is really an accusation that God isn’t doing enough. That God isn’t enough. That God has somehow missed out on my needs, on me. That God isn’t doing a very good job at being God.
Ouch.
The Solution
Complaining is a big deal to God because he’s a big God. And when we complain, it’s like looking at him through the wrong end of a telescope. We make him small.
So what do we do about it? The simple/not-simple answer is that we stop complaining and we speak the truth. I have enough. God is enough. Eric isn’t failing me. My kids aren’t messing up my life. Instead of letting the complaints fall out of my mouth, I consciously point out all my blessings instead. I’m alive. I’m healthy. My kids are healthy. God is absolutely, completely in charge of everything, and to top it off, he loves me. He loves me.
So I’m working on curbing the complaining. It’s not easy. It’s a bad habit I have. But it’s not worth it anymore. It’s time to get a better perspective. On me, my life, and most especially, on God.
Talk to me: What’s your favorite topic of complaint? What does that topic say about God? How do you effectively deal with complaining?
