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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Complain
Complain Have you ever wondered how the Lord feels when we
complain? Well, there's one
little verse tucked away in part of the Bible that most of us don't
read. Sometimes you discover
some real gems of truth hidden in those hard to read passages.
Way back in Numbers 11:20 God makes it clear how He feels about
His people complaining. Yahweh Elohim, the God of Israel, supernaturally
deliveredIsrael
from slavery in When we complain, we demonstrate discontent, which I
think shows a lack of trust in the Lord Jesus.
If we trusted Jesus more, we'd be more content, and complain
less. The apostle Paul
learned to be content in every situation, whether good or bad
(Philippians 4:11). If
anyone had reason to complain it would have been Paul.
He spent lots of time in prison.
He experienced ship wrecks, a stoning, famine, and much more.
He never complained
about what came his way because no matter what happened to him, he had
trusted his life with Jesus. If
we trusted Jesus for the thing we complain about, I don't think we'd
complain either. That's how
I think. The question is,
"how does God think about this"? Since Israel
complained so much about not having meat to eat, God gave them all the
meat they could stuff into their mouths.
Here's how Numbers 11:18 – 20 reads.
"The Lord will give you meat ... until it comes out of your
nostrils … because you have rejected the Lord … and have wailed
(complained) before Him …" What
a picture. Meat coming out
of their nostrils.
Of course that is a figure of speech.
The thing to note here is how God felt about Israel
complaining. He viewed
"complaining" as "rejection".
Why would that be so? When
we complain we tell Jesus that we aren't content with how He is handing
our lives. This lack of
contentment occurs because we fail to trust Jesus in the situation we're
complaining about. When we don't
trust Him, especially after we've given our lives to Him, God interprets
that as "rejection", and so it is.
We are rejecting God's provision in the matter we are complaining
about. That sure puts a
different light on complaining, don't you think?
Paul tells us to "let the Word of Christ dwell
in us richly" (Colossians 3:16). If
we let Numbers 11:20 dwell in us richly, that should put a dint in our
complaining. Of course, you
have to read and study the Bible sufficiently enough to even know this
Scripture exists and how God thinks on this issue.
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