Are You Complaining to Death
by: Amber Brown
“Ugh! Spaghetti again? And it has tomatoes in it! Ma, you know I can’t stand…” “Girl, hush all that complaining! You complain to death! There are children somewhere who would love to eat this spaghetti...”
This conversation ran through my memory. As I drove, all I could do was chuckle thinking about how ungrateful kids can sometimes be. My ten-year-old self complaining about a spaghetti dinner was laughable at best and shameful at worst. Fast forward a couple decades later, I am the mother listening to my kids complain; Bored. Need a phone. Need different clothes. Sick of homework. Need new toys. More technology. This for dinner?
If you’ve ever done anything for anyone, at any point, and gratitude was not the response, you can understand how frustrating it is to hear a complaint in place of a thank you. The entitlement, ungratefulness, and pride, is so privileged, so childish, so…us.
As I reflect on the reprimanding conversations I have had with my own children, the Holy Spirit began to speak to me and show me how we as His children need to be reminded of what a heart full of complaining can do to us.
In Numbers chapter 11, God dealt with a generation of people who complained so much, they complained to death! No, literally–these people complained until they died. In this passage of scripture, the Children of Israel had been delivered from bondage in Egypt, and are now in the wilderness. Not only are they free, but all of their needs are provided by God himself! They had clothes that did not wear out, nor did their shoes wear out. If that was not enough, God provided fresh manna from heaven each morning for them to eat.
What should have been a point of gratitude and thanksgiving became a place of complaining instead. The Children of Israel began to mumble and complain about their food. “Ugh, manna again? This is all we eat! We’re sick of it. Can we at least get some meat? At least we had cucumber, garlic, and onion in Egypt!” The mumbling and complaining of Children of Israel suddenly sound very familiar, a lot like our children sound sometimes–and even us.
These people complained so much that The Lord decided to give them exactly what they asked for: meat. Quail blew in on the coast. So much quail it went beyond what the eyes could see! The Bible says that it took the Children of Israel over a day to gather the quail for themselves. They went home, prepared it, but before they could enjoy one bite of it, God sent a deadly plague and killed them all. Their constant complaining and greed cost them their life.
Thanks be to God for his grace and mercy that we are not consumed by fire and deadly diseases when we complain today. Thank God that he doesn’t strike us dead when He hears the murmuring in our heart. But don’t get it twisted, complaining definitely comes with a heavy price tag.
Are you complaining to death? I don’t mean a death like the Children of Israel experience. I’m speaking of an inner death–the death of your joy, your peace, and your patience. If we aren’t careful, like the children of Israel we can find ourselves buried in the place of our complaining.
It doesn’t have to be November to start exercising a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving! Count your blessings and be thankful, even now! Your life depends on it.
