It’s just a “little” sin, right? Actually, perhaps it’s a virtue since everyone else does it… and after all, we’re just “being real.” We justify and explain it away and sometimes adopt it as part of our persona.
Complaining.
As the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, this “small” sin was serious and contagious with dire consequences.
In Numbers 11:1-3, we find the people complaining; in response, God consumes the outskirts of the camp with fire. Apparently, they didn’t learn their lesson.
Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? “We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; “but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” …Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. (11:4-6, 10)
First, the outskirts of the camp. Now we find everyone at the door of his tent complaining in a tone that sounds an awful lot like a temper tantrum. Sadly, the contagion continued to spread.
So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? “Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? “Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ “I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. “If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!” (11:11-15)
Not exactly Moses’ shining moment of faithfulness. Unfortunately, we find in Numbers 12:1-2 that the sad story still does not end with Moses:
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it.
(I would think those last five words should make us tremble just a bit about what we say.)
The outskirts of the camp. Everyone at the entrance of every tent. Moses. The leadership. And now… the entire nation.
In Numbers 13-14, the entire nation refuses to enter the land and claim what God has promised was theirs, balking at reports of giants and fortified cities, refusing to believe that the God who subdued Egypt and parted the Red Sea and guided them through the wilderness could lead them safely through what lay ahead. Their lack of faith resulted in 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, waiting for that entire generation to die out.
Where did it start? What attitude was it that was so contagious through the entire nation and ultimately cost them their lives?
A complaining spirit.
Sometimes I hear people talking about major sin that they found themselves in, and often the phrase, “I don’t know how this happened” ends up in the story. Suddenly, you’re in this giant pit of sin and you have no idea how you got there! Guess what: I can almost guarantee you it wasn’t a one time thing. As one of my college professors said, your soul is not sold in one giant auction – it is bartered away in thousands of tiny trades.
We often dismiss complaining as a “less serious” sin, or perhaps not a sin at all. Everybody complains – we spread our complaints across our facebook walls and blog posts and phone calls and conversations in the church hallway. Complaints about the weather, about your headache, about your husband/ wife, about your pastor, about your kids, about your car, blah, blah, blah.
But, here is the sticking point: if I truly believe that my God is sovereign, if I truly believe that absolutely nothing is out of His control… my complaints about the big AND small issues of life are tiny symptoms of a deadly cancer: lack of submission to the sovereign will of my Creator, Savior, and Lord. “God, I know that you order all things, but I think you’re doing a lousy job with the weather/ my health/ my family/ my finances/ etc.”
It starts small. It starts at the outskirts… but a complaining spirit is contagious and will ultimately destroy all those it touches. As I begin to adopt complaining as a pattern of life, I am living in constant rebellion to my God, whether it seems that bad or not. I am daily trading my soul, the cancer is spreading, and I am setting myself up for blatant sin and disobedience.
Have you submitted to God, this day, in every aspect of your life? Are you believing Him, obeying Him, submitting to Him… or are you rebelling in your heart and leading those around you to do the same?
If you’re new here… we’re continuing our One Summer, One Story series – a fast-paced overview of the “big story” of the Bible! Missed anything? Find all the past posts here.
