A story to remind us how to respond to the complainers nearby

By Dean Collins

Maybe it was because God communicated with Moses and often from Moses to Aaron and then to the people that the children of Israel thought God wasn’t paying attention to what they said. We read God’s blessing to Moses in Numbers 6, a blessing that Aaron was to pronounce daily over the Israelites. But the results of the blessing did not satisfy the Israelites, so “the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortune” (Numbers 11:1).

John Goldingay’s translation reads this way: “But the people became veritable complainers in Yahweh’s ears about their bad fortune. Yahweh heard and his anger raged.” I think the Old Testament scholars agree it was their constant complaining that tipped the scale.

Not enough

God had an audible blessing pronounced over them daily. He provided manna every morning and quail every evening and made sure they had water. And don’t forget the presence of the cloud and the fire over the tabernacle that was always visible as a reminder that God was always with them. God had rescued his people, provided for them, and watched over them. He was in the process of taking them to a promised land. But it just wasn’t fast enough or good enough. The amenities were not to their liking.

If you are a parent or a leader and you are doing everything within your resources to provide for your family or your employees, it is easy to slip into being angry if those you try to bless don’t seem to appreciate the blessing. God heard the complaining and was angry about it. So God began a rather harsh discipline. Moses asked God to stop his punishment, and God relented.

But even though God was gracious, some kept their complaints coming. Verse 4 says, “the rabble that was among them had a strong craving,” and it didn’t take long for the few to influence a larger group. Contrary to the assertion by the Osmond Brothers in their 1970 hit song, one bad apple can spoil a bunch. The rabble influenced many to complain, and the complaining was disruptive to the mission. Eventually, the craving along with the complaining sent Moses over the edge.

Too much

Moses then had a very transparent conversation with God, telling the Creator of the universe he didn’t really care for the role he had been given, to lead these complainers through the wilderness to the Promised Land. “Why are you treating me this way God? These aren’t my children. I didn’t birth them, and I am not their nurse.” Moses took a minute to make sure God knew how he felt about this assignment.

God’s response resulted in getting Moses some help. In fact, 70 elders were appointed to assist Moses in crowd management.

It’s one thing to have a bad day and find yourself discouraged and whining about the assignment you’ve been given. But if we are not diligent in our determination to lean on God and live in his promises, we can easily get stuck in a self-destructive cycle of negativity. Before we know it, we start carrying burdens that are not ours to carry and assigning blame to others and to God for problems they aren’t actually responsible for.

God first

Time and time again we read of God’s faithfulness. In fact, we have thousands of years of evidence of how God keeps his promises. If we have complaints about life, our situation, or the problems of the world, the best solution is to follow the approach of Moses and go directly to God with your thoughts and needs. Otherwise, we simply end up in the rabble that creates and sustains negativity and disrupts the work and ministry we’ve been assigned. The truth is that someone is always listening to us. When we go to God first, then we give him the opportunity to meet our needs. Asking God for help will always have a better result than listening to the complaints or, worse, perpetuating disunity.

David gives us a great model in Psalm 142 concerning our complaints. I’d follow his path and avoid the rabble. God can handle our complaints, but he is not fond of engaging with the crowd of whiners and wailers.

Father forgive us when we join in complaining about our circumstances and creating negativity in our communities. We want an honest and open relationship with you. Thank you for your kindness in allowing us to come to you in our times of discouragement. Thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you for Jesus who took our burdens all the way to the cross. Free us from our anxiety and our negativity. Heal our wounds and restore a right spirit within us so that we can be used effectively in the kingdom assignments you give us. In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭6:24-26; 11:1-2, 4-6, 11-18, 21-25; Psalm‬ ‭142:1-7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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