When I began this blog with this title it was for the sole purpose of helping believers go from mediocrity in this christianese culture to being a full fledged disciple bearing much fruit. Chill out and serve is just that… every believer needs to chill out and serve their King, who is coming soon. What’s the catch? Hinderances, hang up’s and hiccups line the path. We’re bring tripped constantly by others, but primarily by ourselves. This has been and will continue to be, as long as God allows it, a place to find help.
What hinders your walk more than yourself? We get in our way so easily. We live in a world that is ran by Satan with the sole purpose of ruining our fellowship and follow-ship with Jesus. All we have to do is look outside, read a paper, see our social media, turn on a tv, or go to work. It is all around us all the time. What? The temptation to say “yes” to self and “no” to the Spirit. The foremost yes we say to self is— complaining. Mark Twain once remarked— “Don’t complain and talk about all your problems… 80 percent of people don’t care; the other 20 percent will think you deserve them.” So true. But hasn’t it also become common place to hear complaint after complaint among believers? This is not God’s will for us. It’s eroding our ability to follow Jesus as we’ve been called to do (Matthew 4.19).
In Numbers 11 we find God-believers not living a thankful existence. Instead we find a people who could not live a day without insistent complaining. God is good. His provisions are the best! James 1.17 says— “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” He only gives good gifts. He is a great Shepherd! We find this most famously in Psalm 23.1— “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” I have Him, so I wont go for want of anything. He is my sufficiency. He is my care-taker. He is my guide to greener and greener pastures. The way may be dicey, but He is with me in the valley (Psalm 23). Uniquely David says— “I will not fear”. Isn’t that the real reason we fret ahead of time? Because we do not trust God. ‘Will He come through for me? Will it work out like I want it to?’ becomes our daily question, even when we don’t voice those words out loud exactly.
What about the way things have worked out so far and are even now working out? Numbers 11 is the blueprint on how not to live. When we express resentment over circumstances that are beyond our control and about which we are doing nothing. Just like the context of Numbers 11, those who choose complaining as a lifestyle are in a wilderness. Psalm 63.1 says— “a dry and thirsty land where no water is.” That is not a place I want to be. Frankly, we all know complaining changes nothing. Then why do it? First, it satisfies our sinful natures. Second, it provides momentary emotional relief. It’s a temporary sense of euphoria. This is why we insist on complaint to and with others. It makes our flesh ‘feel’ good. It can start off about the pet-peeve we have, but soon develops much like the Children of Israel—about a lot of different things. By the time Numbers 11.1 comes into play, God has had enough of their complaining. When we are complaining we are simply saying— ‘What God has provided is not good enough’. You may not ‘feel’ like we’re doing this, but we are. Numbers 11.1 reads— “And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” We want to blame others and/or circumstances; but the bottom line is that our attitudes are choices.
Once a cowboy was driving down a dirt road, his dog riding in back of the pickup truck, his faithful horse in the trailer behind. Tragically, he lost control on a curve and had a terrible accident. Sometime later, a highway patrol officer came on the scene. As an animal lover, he saw the horse first. Realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of his misery. He walked around the accident and found the dog, also hurt critically. He couldn’t bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog’s suffering as well. Finally he located the cowboy, who suffered multiple fractures, off in the weeds. “Hey, are you okay?” the trooper asked. The cowboy took one look at the smoking revolver in the trooper’s hand and quickly replied… “Never felt better!” There is a warning there somewhere.
Complaining is an habitual attitude. We have patterns of thinking formed over a long period of time. In fact, it can be formed over generations. Unless someone changes the course of events in a family, tribe, church, or entire people group; the person or group will continue to exhibit those patterns of attitude. Looking at the people of Numbers 11, they have had this same complaining attitude for a while. Look at Exodus 14.12— “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”. How about Exodus 16.3— “And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger”. And then there is Exodus 17.3— “And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” These people’s nature of habitually complaining about what God has or hasn’t done for them is nauseating. They are spoiled people. They have forgotten so quickly how good God had been to them. They were even ok with more slavery than dependence on God! I wonder if this is the reason so many North American believers today lack a spirit of dependence on God? Is it because at least they ‘feel’ some sense of false security in the captivity of this world?
You cannot change the attitude you have, until you admit you chose that attitude. As long as the blame game is alive and kicking, then the attitude will not change. Complaining is on par with stealing, lying, blasphemy, adultery. It is a sin that hurts yourself! It also enables and encourages you to hurt God, by attacking His sovereignty. Then eventually you hurt others, especially your own posterity. The children and their children will carry on your trends unless there is some sort of intervention. This was the reason for a complete gutting of the generation that was in the wilderness. But what happened to the offspring that entered into the promised land? They ended up pairing up with people who worshipped others gods, eventually being led away again. What happened before their kids went down the same path? You guessed it—complaining to God for what He did or didn’t provide to them. They blamed God for their circumstances…again!
We can define complaining as: “expressing dissatisfaction with circumstances that is not wrong and about which I’m doing nothing to correct.” Complaining is whining about things that are not sinful. Complaining is choosing to whine instead of doing something about it. Complaining involved a circumstance, but criticism is of a person. Expression of dissatisfaction can be with verbal communication (words) or nonverbal communication (thoughts, deeds, looks). It’s worth repeating— “Complaining is choosing to whine instead of do something about it.” It’s everywhere: web, social media, restaurants, and even church. The question must be asked— ‘Do you think you are entitled to a life without adversity?’ The book of Job 14.1 says— “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” It’s the adversity that brings us to close intimacy with God. Avoiding and complaining about it reduces your walk in Christ. It prolongs your growth. God hears our complaints— “And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp” (Numbers 11.1). He was angry with Israel here in chapter 11 verses 1, 10b, 33; later in chapters 12.9, 25.4, 32.14. That folks is a pattern of behavior. A chosen behavior that could have changed but they weren’t going to.
God judges complainers— “And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp (Numbers 11.1). God is infinitely and perfectly love. He is also infinitely and perfectly just. “…our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12.29, Deuteronomy 4.24). The fire was temporary— “And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched” (Numbers 11.2). Worse than the fire was the wilderness. Even though there is a temporary hit, the fall-out of a complaining attitude can last generations unless stopped. In this case a dry, joyless, barren place for the next 40 years. Complaining is an attitude choice, that if left unchecked, will wither my capacity to experience joy and genuine thankfulness. I cannot believe this is what you want for your life or the life of your family. If it isn’t, then make changes now. Make new habits. Stop it when it starts in your home, office, in your own head.
Ask yourself these easy questions: Am I a complainer? Do I need to speak and think differently? Am I willing to repent and ask God to change me?