PHILIPPIANS 2:12-14 – “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing”

THEME OF THE DAY: THE SIN OF COMPLAINING.  It is probably the easiest, most common, and tolerated sin committed by Christians.  Let’s test my statement.  Recently complained about the weather?  A long traffic jam?  Disobedient child?  Difficult co-worker or boss?  An unexpected bill? An insensitive spouse?  A family disagreement? I think we may each add to the inconveniences in life that tempt us to and lead us to commit the sin of complaining.

Before we make the application of today’s scripture, we must establish that complaining is a sin if we never thought of it as such.  The scripture evidence is not only today’s passage but in God’s people of old described in the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14.  Read the two chapters in total at one sitting.  It will put us in the best place of observation of the Israelites committing the sin of complaining.  But here is a portion of chapter fourteen displaying their sin and the Lord’s grave response . . .

“So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt”” (Numbers 14:1-4).

Pay attention to the objects against whom God’s people were complaining; Moses and Aaron.  They were oblivious to the real issue at hand, and often we are the same.  We complain about what is happening externally to us and complain of those difficult horizontal circumstances.

Now pay attention to what the Lord says of His people’s complaining and who it is really directed at, and it is not Moses and Aaron . . .

“And the LORD said to Moses, “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? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they”” (Numbers 14:11-12).

Any complaining is vertical, not horizontal. Complaining about anything or anyone is the sin of rebellion against the sovereignty of God. It is no small matter before Him!  When we complain, we figurately are shaking our fists to heaven and saying, “I don’t like Your will unfolding in my life.”  What an eye-opening reality!

So, watch for it; the attitude of the heart that wants to complain when life is hard and not going like we desire.  As we do, God will give us the strength to avoiding sinning against Him by not complaining of His sovereignty unfolding.

PRAYER: Father, forgive me for the too-often times I complain in my life, forgetting it is a sin against Your sovereignty.

REFLECTION: Complaining of anything or anyone reveals our lack of awareness of God and His control of all things.