Let’s Replace Complaining With Trust In God!

In Philippians 2:14 the apostle Paul makes a shocking statement. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing….” God absolutely hates complaining. We find the same word grumbling in 1 Corinthians 10. The author says, “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” “Laid low” is a euphemism for death. Two million Israelites died in the wilderness. Verse 10 says, “Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.” God takes complaining very seriously. Let’s answer two questions…

First question, why does God dislike grumbling and disputing? The answer is surprising. All complaining is ultimately against God! In Exodus 16:2 the people complained. “The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” However, their complaining was ultimately directed against God. Verse 7 says, “…He has heard your grumblings against the Lord…”

God is sovereign over our circumstances. He is in charge. Grumbling leads to disputing (Philippians 2:14). The word disputing means “to argue.” We complain and say, “God, why have You allowed this in my life? I don’t think You are running the universe properly.”

Jonah argued with God. God sent him to Nineveh. Jonah disagreed and went in the opposite direction. When God spared Nineveh Jonah complained and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and One Who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah complained and argued with God. He said, “God, You should not have spared Nineveh. You are too compassionate. I could do a better job running the world than You are doing.” Complaining leads to arguing with God. God does a better job running the world then you or I could ever do!

Second question, how do we overcome grumbling and disputing with God? We overcome by replacing complaining with trust. We must trust our Father. At the end of his life Moses wisely said, “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

God allows difficult circumstances to teach us to trust Him! We must replace complaining and arguing with trusting God! Our Lord Jesus perfectly trusted His Father. In the wilderness Satan tempted Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4:3).

Satan said to Jesus, “Look at Yourself. You’ve been fasting in the wilderness for forty days. Your only companions are serpents and scorpions. Your Father is not trustworthy. Is this a good path for Your life?”

Jesus replied by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Jesus did not complain about the lack of food. He trusted His Father.

We can trust God as we understand the cross. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates (proves) His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God the Father sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins. Jesus willingly went to the cross and suffered in our place.

As we also understand God’s character we learn to trust Him! God is loving and kind and merciful and compassionate and patient and eternal and perfect. His goal is to make us like His Son Jesus! Let’s replace complaining with trust in God.