It is difficult to complain against God when you are bringing Him your heart. Your grumbling begins to transform into prayer. Your complaints turn into petitions. You stop dethroning God and start running to Him instead.

I want you to consider with me the sin of “complaining.” That might register as a small-scale sin to you. After all, who doesn’t love to complain? I know I do. I’m gifted at it because I’ve put in my 10,000 hours. Complaining about the weather. Complaining about how busy I am. Complaining about my sports team’s performance. Complaining about the cost of gas. Complaining about how often other people complain. I am a skilled complainer.

Complaining is an example of a sin that we Christians easily cozy up to. Without realizing it, grumbling becomes the warm blanket we pull up to our shoulders whenever we encounter anything we dislike. How do we make peace with it so easily? I think one of the primary reasons is that we put on blinders to the God-ward nature of complaining. We isolate it. We compartmentalize. Even if we (rightly) recognize our whining as a sin, we turn it more into a personal growth project rather an opportunity to love and trust and speak to and find refuge in the living God.

Take a look at the first few verses of Numbers 14:

“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?” (14:1–3a)

The nation aims its grumbling at Moses and Aaron. It is so malicious, so insidious, that they actually pick up stones to murder their leaders (14:10). But in reality, these men aren’t the target. Moses and Aaron are simply caught in the crossfire. They are collateral damage. Here is how the LORD frames the nation of Israel’s complaints:

“How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?” (14:11)

Read More