Grumbling & Complaining

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy coming across confusing or tricky passages in Scripture. I enjoy wrestling with them, tossing them over, discussing them in Growth Groups, and working hard to understand them. I find it incredibly rewarding to learn something new about God’s character and re-evaluate what I had previously misunderstood. Scripture is full of many such passages. Philippians 2:14; however, is not one. ‘Do all things without grumbling or disputing’.

What a simple command! There’s no tricky exegesis or complex theology. It’s easy to rush over it. But we shouldn’t! Though simple, what an incredibly difficult command! I’ve been mulling over this verse recently and have again been reminded of how we constantly need God’s word to define our attitude. Think about it: Does Paul really mean ‘all things’? No grumbling, no complaining, at all?! That’s a big ask! How starkly this stands in contrast to our world where grumbling against our bosses is a right and complaining in lunchrooms about whoever isn’t there is commonplace. It’s almost a way of life. But if we pay attention to our history, it becomes readily apparent that there is perhaps nothing quite as dangerous as grumbling.

The paradigmatic grumblers are the Israelites in the wilderness. Having been rescued out of Egypt by a mighty display of God’s power over Pharaoh, having walked between two walls of water along a dry seabed, having received His gracious law, separating them as His special nation and having been sustained for two years by bread that literally came down from heaven… the people of Israel had the audacity to complain about the lack of cucumbers.  “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”  (Num. 11:4-6) What an outrageous comment! Yes, they might have had fish and melons and cucumbers in Egypt. But what else did they have? Impossible brick-making quotas, subjugation, beatings and the death of their sons (Ex 1, 5). Yet conveniently, this seems quickly forgotten by the Israelites while in the wilderness. But you see, this is what grumbling is characterised by. A false memory. Perhaps sometimes a biased or a short memory. But a memory that fails to remember reality, God’s actions and His promises.

Think back to Exodus 15. One of the first things that the Israelites did after crossing through the Red Sea was grumble. They complained because of the lack of water (Ex. 15:24) and food (Ex. 16:2-3). Yet each time, God was gracious and provided for them. Well, then in chapter 17, having seen God’s power to provide food and water, and knowing his promise to take them into Canaan, when there is no water in the wilderness they grumble once again against Moses and God. And famously, God once again provides water for them through the striking of the rock, and Moses ‘called the name of the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarrelling), because of the quarrelling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”’ (Ex. 17:7)

Now, we might be tempted to ask what the issue with a little grumbling is? After all, they were travelling through the wilderness on foot. Surely they were parched, how serious can some venting be? Well, as Psalm 95 tells us, extremely serious. ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”’ (Ps. 95:7-11) Do you see the danger? Israel’s consistent grumbling against God, despite his ongoing faithfulness, is what kept them out of the Promised Land. And not only that, but also the final and eternal Sabbath Day rest (Heb. 4:1-10). You see, grumbling is something that we as Christians cannot afford to do. Each grumble and complaint is like another layer of lacquer that builds up on our hearts, slowly but surely hardening them against the goodness of God and His word. Complaining is not a chance for us to vent our frustrations; it has the potential to lead us astray from God and from His eternal rest.

So friends, what can be done? Well, fortunately God is gracious. Because if grumbling is characterised by a false memory, then the solution is true remembrance. And if complaining causes us to forget, then thanksgiving reminds us of reality. Listen to the start of Psalm 95. ‘Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.’ (Psalm 95:1-3) The path from grumbling to joyfulness runs straight through thanksgiving. And this is no band-aid solution, trying to see the silver lining in every situation. No, this is a true remembrance of what God has done for us. Thankfulness that despite how difficult our situation may be, we remain as God’s chosen people. Thankfulness for the beauty of his creation and all of his good gifts to us. Thankfulness that he has rescued us from that which we could not rescue ourselves and has given us new life forever. We must heed the warning of Meribah and Massah and not grumble against God, not hardening our hearts to His word. For He is a great God, and a great King above all gods. ‘But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Eph. 4:20)