Complain to God || The Complaint Department #1

Introducing
“The Complaint Department”

We are all professional complainers, right? We all know how to do it. We all know how it makes us feel. We all know that it doesn’t solve anything, but it makes us feel better. Back the Old Testament, it was Moses’s job to listen to the complaints of God’s chosen people as they journeyed on their Exodus. However, their complaints didn’t result in feeling like we do. In our new series called, “The Complaint Department,” we are going to look at six situations where God’s chosen people complained, which led to their sin, resulting in an unfavorable action from them.

My goal in this to help us understand the impact of our own complaining, understand how our complaining can lead to hardships that result in actions that don’t often benefit us. Using the stories from God’s chosen people, I want us to look at the opposite of their complaints to see how things might have gone differently.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What does it mean to you to “complain”?

The First Complaint

The first complaint we’re looking at is in Numbers 11:1, which says:

NASB – Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the ears of the Lord; and the Lord heard them and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some at the outskirts of camp.

NLT – Now when the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

VOICE – The people griped about life in the wilderness, how hard they felt things were for them, and these evil complaints came up to the ears of the Eternal One. He was furious about this ingratitude, faithlessness, and lack of vision. His anger was kindled, and His fire raged among them and devoured some of the camp’s perimeter.

They complained about their hardship. The resulting sin (which I’m describing as how they missed the mark from God’s ideal in how they should live is that they complained instead of going to God in prayer. As a result, parts of the camp were destroyed. This seems harsh at face value, but what is the deeper meaning of this? If God is a loving and kind God, how can we interpret the fire from him burning parts of the camp as a loving and kind situation? Let’s dig into it.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What does this complaint mean to you? How do you interpret the impact of this complaint?

Complaining in Context

The wilderness tested God’s people to see whether they would trust the God that redeemed them, fed them, guided them, and had a relationship with them. Instead of them bringing their complaints to God by faith, they decided to complain almost immediately. They focused on their discomfort immediately after tasting freedom. For context, God has just rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and they were making their way towards the promised land. Now, they were enslaved for 430 years, which for context is about 10 generations of family lines that had went this period. By the time they were freed, they were experiencing some new compared to what they knew. New things can be uncomfortable. New things can be scary. New things can bring us anxiety and fear. Believers are called to bring those concerns, anxieties, and fears to God directly and trust, by faith, that He will guide through these emotions and take us to a place of victory – a Promised land if you will. Instead of leaning on God, they complained.

Since this is the first part of our series, I think it will be helpful to take a crash course on complaining to understand what it is and why we do it. Complaining is defined as a type of communication that expresses dissatisfaction regardless of having actually experienced the subjective feeling of dissatisfaction or not. In a blog from PsychologyToday (link at the end), William Berry shares that complaining can bring validation and can open the door for relationships to be built. When someone else recognizes you pain and validates what you are feeling, it feels good to us and brings about a connection that we may not have expected. However, complaining can also boost our pride and ego. We often will work towards putting others down, so that we can make ourselves feel better.

When we factor this into the conversation about God’s people is that they tried to view it from the perspective of trying to comprehend their situation. The reasons they were brought into slavery came from decisions that their ancestors made almost ten generations ago. While they would have been familiar with it, they may have recognized that this is not who they were anymore. They carried the weight of these decisions and trauma all throughout their family. They were so trained to listen to Pharaoh that instead of going to their God, they went to their Pharaoh – Moses. They didn’t consider talking to the God that rescued them, fed them, and is guiding them to a safe land to start a new and holy community. I feel pretty confident saying that their complaining didn’t come from ill-intent, but from a place of unknown. They were brought into situations that they may not have expected and didn’t know how to handle it. As a result, they faced the consequences of not trusting God. (When I state this, I mean this in relation to the story as written in the Scripture. While we face consequences of trusting and not trusting God, our modern consequences may not be as intense)

**Sources used for this section: Complaining – Wikipedia; The Psychology of Complaining | Psychology Today **

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What do you make of their complaint? Was their complaint intentionally going against God? Was their complaint based out of fear?

Responding With
Gratitude and Intercession

When God heard their complaints, He was angry. Fire came from him and destroyed the outer part of the camp. God heard their complaints loud and clear, and they felt directed at God. It was more than just complaining about being tired. It showed God that they do not believe in Him and that they were ungrateful for their rescue. The anger that God felt was justified because the people did acknowledge His mercy and treated His blessings lightly. Fire was now an instrument of judgment. God led the Israelites through the wilderness by this fire, and now showed that His holiness shouldn’t be treated casually. The judgment of fire hit only part of the camp, as a warning of the type of destruction that God can share. Moses interceded however (we’ll touch on this shortly) and God restrained His full judgment and called Israel to repent.

That’s an aggressive response that appears justified, but I want to reiterate that this was more common of a justice marker during that time and place in history. However, Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites to make sure they weren’t fully destroyed. What did Moses say? We just have to look at Numbers 11:2-3, which says:

2 But the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.

3 So that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned against them.

The people didn’t turn to God with their complaints, but turned Moses – who turned to God. The people turned to Moses because they were afraid of God after watching part of the campsite burn. Moses held the position to intercede between them and God, holding the burden of the needs of God’s people.

Moses didn’t meet the needs of God’s people with his own strength or through resentment, even when their complaints were directed against God’s provision. Moses brought their needs before God, remaining faithful to seeing the good of the people and have the people taken care of. When Moses interceded, the fire died down. God restrained His judgment, showing mercy without denying the seriousness of their sin.

I think that’s important to recognize about the character of God: God shows mercy without denying the seriousness of their sin. It’s important to talk about the fear that the people felt after seeing that. It’s an intense sight to think about. We leave a place that we’ve known for years. We’re concerned and complaining about this new and unknown environment, and because we didn’t take our complaints to YHWH – YHWH burned a part of our camp as judgment. When we put ourselves in their shoes, it can be hard to understand why we should follow a god that could kill us if we don’t obey.

However, I want to share an alternative perspective on God’s side. I want you to think about a time when you went to help someone, and they didn’t acknowledge your help. They took it for granted. Even when they received your help, they still complained about their situation. How would you feel? (And I’m sure a situation came to your mind.) You would be upset. You would be frustrated. You may look for opportunities for revenge. You may engage in badmouthing and slandering that person. Now, you wouldn’t burn down their home (at least I hope not), but the meaning said the same. Our good acts went unnoticed, and it hurts. Now, the ministry of Jesus teaches us to help others without expecting anything in return from them for God sees our works and will bless us accordingly. However, it’s still the kind part of a relationship to share gratitude in the works we do for each other. It’s a sign of love. It’s a sign of respect.

When we complain, we take for granted our current situation and focus on what we desire instead of finding gratitude in the present. When we’re ready to complain, take a moment and reflect in gratitude over our situations. After we reflect in gratitude, bring your complaints to God. God hears you. God wants the best for you. God will guide you on a path that is best for you. It may result it hurts, pain, and grief – however, on the other side of that is victory. You will find a Promised Land.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How have you navigated moments when you complained? How did you feel after your complaining?