Complaining

Complaining

What the Lord wants is that you shall go about the business to which He sets you, not asking for an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard one.

Catherine Booth

Examine your heart and consider your verbal responses to the challenges you face. When you feel overwhelmed with your problems, you are tempted to complain—to others, to yourself, and to Me. There is a righteous way and a faithless way to complain . My Word talks about both responses. Faithless complaining is grumbling, which drags you down, along with others. When you grumble your complaints, you’re directly or indirectly suggesting that I’m not good, wise, loving, or competent. If it’s easy for you to fall into this habit, apply the apostle Paul’s advice to the believers in Philippi: “Do everything without grumbling or arguing” (Philippians 2:14, NIV).

The right kind of complaining is the honest expression of the groaning of your heart. That’s when you come to Me in humility and pour out your pain, anguish, grief, and trouble. It’s understanding that you live in a broken world. You’re echoing the truth of Paul’s words in Romans 8:23: “We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.” I encourage this kind of complaining, and I understand your longing for the day when you will have your full rights as My adopted child, along with a new body. I hear your appeals for help.

I cry out to the LORD; I plead for the LORD’s mercy. I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.

Psalm 142:1-2