The Complaint Department

The new appliance you just purchased isn’t working.  It’s under warranty and you decide to take it back to the store.  You of course have a justifiable reason to want your appliance replaced or your money returned.  Unfortunately though, the clerk at the complaint counter tells you that the warranty only covers certain things.  Your complaint doesn’t fit in to the list of accepted reasons for return.  Or maybe they tell you the warranty only covers the parts, but not the labor.  Maybe next they tell you have to have them ship it back to the manufacturer and await their decision or maybe in the end you just have to accept what they are saying after you read the warranty yourself.  Sometimes we have the right to complain.  Yet those earthly complaint departments we visit make us feel like this photo.  It wasn’t our fault the appliance didn’t work as advertised.  We deserve justice.  What do we do?

This type of problem also happens in other areas of our life or our spiritual lives.  We are living the way Christ has taught us in His Word.  We are kind to others.  We pay our tithe.  We serve faithfully, etc.  Yet, nothing seems to be going right.  We have people picking on us for no reason.  Our car keeps breaking down.  We have a serious illness.  Our loved one just died.  We feel like we deserve to have a decent life since we are being committed to God.  We deserve justice when the enemy comes against us for our faithful stand for the Lord.  What do we do?

Over the last few days we have explored the concept of not complaining.  So what do we do if we can’t complain?  We can always go to God with the right attitude and tell Him how we feel.  We are not to go to Him complaining against Him.  That is the problem we saw with the Israelites.  They were forgetting who God was and complained against Him.  Over and over again in Exodus and Numbers we see the Biblical accounts of the Israelites complaining about various subjects against God or God’s chosen leaders. 

There were a few godly men in the Bible that did know how to present their cases to God.  Job and David both gave us examples of godly men that brought their complaints before the Lord.  For example let’s take a look at David.  He was chased by the enemy and by friends.  He had so many things come against him even when he was living a godly life.  Read how David addresses God about his complaints:

Psalm 55: 12 -17

¹² Now it is not an enemy who insults me— otherwise I could bear it; it is not a foe who rises up against me— otherwise I could hide from him. ¹³ But it is you, a man who is my peer, my companion and good friend! ¹⁴ We used to have close fellowship; we walked with the crowd into the house of God. ¹⁵ Let death take them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, because evil is in their homes and within them. ¹⁶ But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. ¹⁷ I complain and groan morning, noon, and night, and He hears my voice. ¹⁸ Though many are against me, He will redeem me from my battle unharmed. ¹⁹ God, the One enthroned from long ago, will hear and will humiliate them Selah because they do not change and do not fear God.

Psalm 142:2

¹ I cry aloud to the LORD; I plead aloud to the LORD for mercy. ² I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him. ³ Although my spirit is weak within me, You know my way. Along this path I travel they have hidden a trap for me. ⁴ Look to the right and see: no one stands up for me; there is no refuge for me; no one cares about me. ⁵ I cry to You, LORD; I say, “You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the living.” ⁶ Listen to my cry, for I am very weak. Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. ⁷ Free me from prison so that I can praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because You deal generously with me.

Do you see the difference between David’s complaints and the Israelites complaints?  He is seeking justice, protection and provision from God.  He remembers who God is (merciful, eternal, He hears, He is to be feared).  He remembers who he is (weak).  He puts the blame where it belongs (on the ones who are doing evil).  He informs God of the problems and asks God to save him so that he might glorify and praise God.  The Israelites blamed God and only wanted God to give them what they wanted so they could be satisfied.  When Moses went to God when the people complained he too remembered who God was and asked God to spare the people so that God could be glorified.  Even though the Israelites deserved death for their complaining sin, Moses didn’t want God’s name to be slammed by the Egyptians if God killed them there in the desert and didn’t bring them in to the Promised Land. 

So the key for us is to remember who God is and who we are, when we tell him our complaints.  We need to remember that we are to glorify God.  Anything we are asking God to take care of is to glorify Him, not just fulfill our needs and end our complaints.  Lastly, be encouraged, like David knew, we too can know that God cares for us and will protect us and take care of us.  If we do things right, God will hear our cries and complaints to Him and answer us.

Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease!

Many of us have adopted the old saying “Squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  We think if we complain often enough or loud enough we will get what we need or want.  A lot of times this philosophy does work, because so many people have accepted it.  So they automatically respond to someone who complains constantly first, so they can get them off their backs or their “to do” list.  They will instead choose to ignore those who patiently and quietly wait.  Everyone wants their needs met first.  They do not want to wait to use systems that have been set in place.  It really boils down to us thinking we are more important or better than others. 

Most of the time when we complain we are really just working ourselves up in to an emotional frenzy and hurting others in the process to meet our own needs.  Besides complaining to get things done our way, we tend to complain a lot about others.  We become jealous of what others have or what they get away with.  We complain because they seem to get all the blessings.  We complain because things aren’t going right in our lives.  It just keeps our emotions stirred up.  Instead we should be happy that others are being blessed or happy that God hasn’t punished them the way they deserve when they do things wrong.  We are supposed to put others before ourselves.  We should be glad things go well for them.  They deserve good things just as much as we do.  Paul, James and Peter all reminded us not to complain:

Colossians 3:13

“…accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.”

James 5:9

“Brothers, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!”

I Peter 4:9

“Be hospitable to one another without complaining.”

Complaining must have been a major problem back at the beginning of the church age too, if 3 key leaders had to bring it up in their letters to the Christians they were teaching.  It just makes common sense not to complain about our circumstances or about others.  God loves each of us equally.  He knows what to give or not give us to help us in our walk with Him.  How can we judge God’s choice of blessings in other’s lives?  Why do we as the created being have any right to judge our Creator’s decisions?  Common sense should teach us to leave well enough alone and not be the squeaky wheel.  As we learned from the Israelites, complaining doesn’t always work out so well.  Instead of getting the grease we are asking for to help our little wheel not to squeak, we may find that a big blob of grease gets dropped on us to teach a lesson.  Like when the Israelites asked for meat instead of being grateful for the manna God provided them.  They got lots of quail flying in to camp and just as they bit down on the meat the Lord struck them and many died for their complaining and ungratefulness.

So think twice the next time before you complain and put in to practice the squeaky wheel idiom.

Like a Little Cheese to Go With That Whine?

Have you ever given a kid a gift they asked for and then listened to them whine about it after they unwrapped it?  It was the same item they requested, but not the right color or brand.  For example, click here to watch a young lady’s response as she receives a car in the wrong color.  When we receive something we should naturally be grateful.  We should not start complaining.  Jesus had this same issue with His people.  Read Matthew 20: 1-16.

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the workers on one denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine in the morning, he saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ To those men he said, ‘You also go to my vineyard, and I’ll give you whatever is right.’ So off they went. ⁵ About noon and at three, he went out again and did the same thing. ⁶ Then about five he went and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing?’ ⁷ “‘Because no one hired us,’ they said to him. “‘You also go to my vineyard,’ he told them. ⁸ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.’ ⁹ “When those who were hired about five came, they each received one denarius. ¹⁰ So when the first ones came, they assumed they would get more, but they also received a denarius each. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner: ¹² ‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!’ ¹³ “He replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what’s yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my business? Are you jealous because I’m generous?’ ¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Don’t whine and complain.  God is generous with whoever He wants to be generous with.  If they get more than what we have, then so be it.  We are to seek others good first.  We are to be last.  On a deeper level Jesus was telling the Jewish people that they were His chosen first, but He also had chosen more people to be His from the Gentiles.  The Jewish people thought that the Gentiles shouldn’t be receiving the same as they did.  After all they viewed the Gentiles as dogs.  How could God give them the same benefits and inheritance He had already given to them His chosen people? 

As Christians we need to take instruction from Jesus in this parable that He taught.  We are not to be jealous and complain about what God decides to give others.  If He chooses to bless others with more gifts than us, then so be it.  If He chooses to receive someone in to His Kingdom that we never thought could ever deserve such a thing (due to their lifestyle or crimes committed), then that is His right.  We are all equally sinners and only deserve to go to Heaven because of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. He loves us all equally and He is our creator.  We have no right to tell Him who deserves what.  So the next time you start to compare, whine, complain or be jealous remember Jesus instructions taught in this parable or you might hear the Holy Spirit whisper in your ear, “Like a little cheese with that whine?”