“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
One of my worst triggers when my children were small was when they were whinging and whining. It seems to be the internal red button in many parents that may start as a simmering annoyance to an outright explosion ‘just stop whinging’.
Most good parents teach their children not to complain and to be thankful for what we do for them and how we provide for them.
But is this the biblical thing to do? Or is it a means by which we can manufacture some peace and quiet, which certainly seemed to be my most urgent priority.
When my children were younger there was a book called ‘Peace at last’ all about a Mummy bear doing whatever she could to escape the din of life and find a moment of peace and quiet. It certainly brought a smile and some hope to my desire not to be responsible for another human being just for one minute.
Most of us would agree that complaining is really annoying and if you want to be a good person you shouldn’t verbalise your complaints or find a nice way of saying it. However social media has taken complaining to a different level; it seems to have opened the door to airing every opinion about any and every situation any and every person may ever find themselves in. There seems to be an every growing belief that all views are valid, whether it destroys the life of another human being or not.
Is there really an art of complaining, is there really a valid way of expressing the frustrations of living life together?
A good question every person can ask themselves is How does God parent me?
What do we see in scripture in how God conducts himself when his people are whinging and whining and God’s provision for complaining.
One of the best examples of people whinging and whining in the bible is when the Israelites had been rescued from Egypt and miraculously walked through the Red Sea towards the promised land. They whinged and whined about how life in Egypt was so much better than starving in the desert, however they had quickly forgotten the hardship of having evil taskmasters and their cries for rescue.
And God’s response to them ‘he provided for them’. ‘The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” Exodus 16:11-12.
King David in the Psalms reflected the hard things that he faced as King of Israel, of being a failed human being without the ability to make right choices, of being hunted down by enemies who wanted to destroy him and steal his kingdom, and those numerous times he didn’t understand God’s plans and purposes.
There seems to be a difference to the complaints of the Israelites and the complaints of David. The Israelites often seem to grumble about God and David seemed to grumble to God. God didn’t tire from demonstrating to his children who he is and that his plans are for their good. But the Psalms seem to give us a language to use, to express our frustrations and confusion.
Both of these biblical situations show us that God cares about his children and does provide for them however, the Psalms teach us that God wants to hear our complaints, he wants us to turn to him in our despair. He is a God who listens, he is a God who wants to bring comfort and relief from the confusion of living in this world of sin framing it in the hope of the eternal promised land to come.
The art of complaining isn’t that we shouldn’t complain but who we turn to, the one who not only hears our complaints but who can do something about them. Are we willing to face God and complain to him, to bring our confusion and despair to him, why? Because he is the one who provides, he is the one who gifted us life and he is the one who can bring eternal hope for the life you face in the here and now.
This week take a moment to take your complaints to God, to share with him the deepest hurts hidden way down and discover the rest that only Jesus brings; lifting the burdens that you have been carrying all these years from those places of responsibility that overwhelm you, giving you understanding of how to deal with the life he has gifted to you.
Why should we complain to God? Not just because we can, but because we need to. If we don’t, then we live the lie that the trajectory of the world and those in it are our responsibility.
Jesus says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”.
Tell him today how you feel…..and be honest!
Living His Word 