Two Approaches to God: Complaining and Trusting
In the lives of people in the Bible and in our own lives there are two approaches to God that we can take, one is complaining and the other is trusting.
How do we learn to trust God even in challenging times?
That’s what we’ll be thinking about on Sunday as we look at the story of the Israelites in Exodus 16:2-15 (make sure that’s correct) when they complained to God rather than trusting the Lord.
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Two Approaches to God: Complaining and Trusting
I want to begin by expressing our gratitude and appreciation for all the cards, calls, emails, text messages, and posts expressing love, sympathy, and caring that we’ve received since my father’s death on September 15th. My dad had a good, long and full life for which I’m very grateful. Jill and I feel very loved, supported, and blessed by all of you. Thank you.
Before I read the next scripture, I want to ask you some questions that require a little self-reflection. Are you ready? Here we go.
When was the last time you noticed yourself complaining about something? It could have been today; it could have been on your way to church, or in the last half an hour. It could have been as soon as I started speaking. Can you picture the moment or the circumstances? What was happening? Who was present?
Do you tend to complain about a wide or narrow range of things?
For example, when you’re stuck behind a slow driver on a one lane road or when you don’t get your way.
Do you find yourself complaining at certain times like when you’re hungry, tired, angry, or stressed?
Is your complaining more about your circumstances, other people, or yourself?
How do you feel when you’re complaining?
Does it make you feel better or worse?
Do you enjoy it when people around you complain? Why or why not? Someone said, “When I complain it’s because it’s good to get things off my chest. When you do it, I remind you that complaining never helped anyone.”
Like worrying, complaining doesn’t seem to be good for your soul.
I asked you those questions because our story from Exodus 16 includes a lot of complaining. The time is when the Israelites have been delivered by the Lord from enslavement in Egypt, but now they’re in the wilderness, nothing is familiar, nothing is easy, they’re tired, they’re hungry, a little lost, and they’re complaining in a big way against their leaders and against the Lord.
2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaining against the LORD. For what are we, that you complain against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the LORD has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the LORD.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’ ” 10 And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 The LORD spoke to Moses and said, 12 “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ ”
13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.”
There’s much to notice in this passage. Let’s start with this:
Complaining is Contagious.
Look at verse 2, who complained? “The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.”
Each of us is responsible for our attitude and how we speak. Complaining on the one hand and trusting on the other are as infectious as a communicable disease.
The whole congregation complained, but it had to start with someone or several people and then it spread to other people who didn’t push back, who didn’t say, “Hey Moses and Aaron have a tough job. They’re doing the best they can under challenging circumstances. I wonder how we can help them rather than just complaining about our situation.” That takes emotional intelligence, maturity, and awareness.
Negative emotions and behaviors accelerate in a crowd where people feel anonymous and not responsible for their actions. Complaining is contagious and it needs to be countered or contained or it will spread.
Secondly, Complaining often leads to whining that isn’t based on reality.
The people said to Moses and Aaron in verse 3, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread;”
Is that an accurate or factual statement? No. We often don’t remember the past accurately; we can idealize it and make it out to be better than it actually was. They were enslaved people making bricks without straw in the hot Egyptian sun. Life wasn’t that great. It was predictable, but not a life any of us would want. For some of the people the predictability of life enslaved in Egypt seemed preferable to the unknown of freedom in the wilderness with God.
“If only…”
When I was in high school I had a coach who liked to say, “If only and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.” When he said that to a player he was trying to get the message across that excuses and complaining led to whining not winning. It also makes it seem like you don’t have any influence on what’s happening.
Complaining and whining lead to negativity. The Israelites said, “for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Clearly Moses and Aaron hadn’t brought the people out of Egypt so kill them with hunger and starvation. They were trusting God even when it wasn’t easy. I’m sure Moses would have preferred it if the wilderness had been a no whining zone.
I know some of you like to sail and as one person said, “A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist hopes it will change, a wise person adjusts the sails.”
BBC member Nancy Sveden recently shared the contrast between two attitudes, two ways of looking at any situation, “If only,” and “At least.”
If only is negative and leads to complaining, whining, negativity, even a sense of helplessness and disempowerment. If only this, that, or the other thing, then things could or might have been different.
“At least” is positive and puts your focus on what you still have to be grateful and thankful for, what assets you may possess, or what steps you might take to improve a situation or take on a challenge. Expect nothing, appreciate everything is an “at least” approach to life.
What’s interesting in Exodus 16 is the God we worship and seek to serve loves us so much that God hears and responds even when we complain. Listen to verse 4 again,
Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.”
I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. In other words, I’m going to give them a chance to move from complaining to trusting.
Will the people trust God and follow the instructions about only gathering enough for that day and trust that the God who came through for them today, will come through for them tomorrow? That’s what God is inviting you and me to do.
Will you follow God’s instructions for living or not?
Will you trust God will lead you where God wants you to go even if it’s scary at times and filled with unknowns?
Will you trust that the freedom and unpredictability of being in the wilderness with God is better than the predictability of being enslaved to fear, complaining, whining, and negativity?
The translation of the Bible I use the most is the New Revised Standard Version and when I was preparing for this sermon I did a little research. How many times do you think the word “trust” appears in the Gospels? Would you be surprised to learn the answer is ZERO? It’s amazing to me that the word “trust” doesn’t appear in the Gospels, at least not in the NRSV. It only appears four times in the entire New Testament. Often the word faith or belief may appear but those aren’t exactly the same thing as trust.
The book of the Bible that talks the most about putting your trust in God is the Book of Psalms where it appears 31 times. There are different types of Psalms, and one category is Psalms of Trust, such as Psalm 28, 37, 40, 56 and 115. If you want to learn to trust God more, read or listen to Psalms like these that witness to us about the value of trusting in God. I’ll be sharing some of these in my daily video devotions this week and I invite you to check them out each day. Here are a few examples.
Psalm 56 is about Trusting God in Tough Times. Verse 11 declares, “in God I trust; I am not afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me?”
Trusting God helps to reduce fear because God is greater than anyone or anything you may fear.
Psalm 37 is An Encouragement to Patience and Trust, verse 3 says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.” Psalm 37 asserts a belief in a relationship between trusting the Lord and doing good and living securely.
We know life doesn’t always work out that way, too many people who trust God and seek to do good have been harmed or killed by the evil, the violent, or the wicked, but trusting the Lord and doing good are still the best way to live.
Psalm 28 declares that Trusting God Leads to Thanks and Praise
Verse 7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”
Psalm 40:4, “Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.”
One more from Psalm 115:11, “You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.”
One way to read the Bible is to recognize there is a crisis on almost every page and the same is often true in our lives. Every crisis we face is an opportunity to complain or to trust God. Part of what God was looking for and expecting from the Israelites in the wilderness was trust that would lead to growth in character. Sadly, for them, it didn’t happen, and the result wasn’t good. The majority of the people who left Egypt never made it to the Promised Land.
I don’t want to be too hard on the Israelites in the wilderness. It was a time of crisis and challenge, and those times demand you respond well by learning and growing. As you look back on your own life, can you identify or describe some of the crises from which you’ve learned to live differently? Are there crises you’ve gone through which have contributed to your growth and the maturing of your faith and character? Have you ever assisted others to get through a crisis? How did that impact you and them?
I hope you’ll remember this story from Exodus 16 and the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness and reflect on at least one step or commitment you can make to complain less and to trust God more. For example, “I will start to memorize at least one verse like Psalm 28:7, 37:3, 40:4, 56:11, or 115:11,” or “When I find myself starting to complain, I will stop myself, and say three things I’m grateful for,” or “I’ll focus on “at least,” rather than “If only”.”
Complaining and trusting are two approaches to God and two approaches to life. When you reflect on each of them, don’t you want to be a person whose life is marked by trusting God?
At the end of your life, would you rather have people say about you, “He was a great complainer, he could complain about anything. If he won Powerball, he’d be complaining about the taxes.” Or “She was someone whose life reflected her deep trust in God.
Even in times of hardship and adversity, her trust never wavered, and it gave her such strength, courage, and confidence that was contagious.”
Questions for Discussion or Reflection
- When do you find yourself complaining? Do you tend to complain about a wide or narrow range of things (For example, being stuck behind a slow driver on a one lane road, when you don’t get your way, when you’re hungry or don’t get enough sleep)?
- Do you enjoy it when people around you complain? Why or why not?
- What have you done, what can you do, to reduce the amount of complaining you do?
- Why is learning to trust God, especially in tough times such an important, life altering choice?
- Read one or more of the Psalms of Trust, such as Psalm 28, 37, 40, 56 or 115. What do you learn from them about trusting God? According to these Psalms, what does trusting God enable you and lead you to do?
- Discuss or reflect on at least one step or commitment you can make to complain less and to trust God more. For example, “I will start to memorize at least one verse like Psalm 28:7, 37:3, 40:4, 56:11, or 115:11,” or “When I find myself starting to complain, I will stop myself, and say three things I’m grateful for,” or “I’ll focus on “at least,” rather than “If only”.”