What Am I Doing When I Complain?

“Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”  (Exodus 16:8, ESV)

SadFaceNo3100813I have to confess. I complain. 

People aren’t perfect, and for some silly reason I often seem to think they should be.

The circumstances of my life aren’t perfect either. They’re tainted by the effects of sin in the world. But still I find myself thinking that my life should be peaceful and challenge-free.

When people and circumstances don’t meet my expectations, I tend to think I have a right to complain.

This is sin. When I complain — about circumstances, about other people, about decisions — I’m actually murmuring against my Lord. I’m shaking my puny fist at the God of the universe, the God who loved me enough to send His Son to die for me, the God who sovereignly placed me in the midst of these people and these circumstances, and I’m telling Him that I deserve something better than this!

Pretty cheeky, isn’t it? Exactly who do I think I am?

I need to stop in my tracks and take a good, hard look at the cross. I need to remember what Jesus — the only perfect man — suffered on my behalf. That’s what I really deserve, and He, in His great love, has spared me.

Remembering this should not only end my complaints. It should fuel my praise — praise for His love that saved me, and praise for these custom-designed lessons that He has ordained for my good and His glory.

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