Thanksgiving is a great topic (and holiday) to reflect on, but while I could go on and on about how thanksgiving leads to joy and contentment and yada yada yada, I’d rather spend this blank slate of electronic characters discussing the opposite of giving thanks: grumbling.

Quail Complaining

In one of my favorite examples of God’s humor, God shows the Israelites just how much He hates grumbling. In Numbers 11, you have the Israelites in the desert with Moses. If you don’t know much about the Israelites, know that they suffer from whiny amnesia. Miracle after miracle, they forget who God is and complain about their circumstances. In the desert, there isn’t much food really, so to sustain His people, God poured out fresh manna from heaven every day. It was the original Mountain Dew. But after a while, the Israelites got bored with this magical elixir from the sky and they started saying how they wish they were back in slavery where they could eat fish freely. It’s easy to laugh at these guys, but I know what it’s like to be hangry; I can sympathize. They literally begged for meat. Even Moses couldn’t stand listening to these people wail one more moment, so he asked God to do something. In fact, Moses was so tired of their grumbling that he said “fix this or just kill me now!” Like any father, God got a little upset that His children wouldn’t eat the perfectly good food He set before them. But He didn’t starve them like I probably would have. Instead, God swept up a huge flock of quail from the sea and made it rain delicious pheasant on them. There was so much quail, they were literally swimming in it; there was quail piled up 3 feet high in every direction, enough for each person to have over 2000 lbs to themselves. That’s a TON of quail (pun intended). The Israelites ate quail for a month straight; they ate enough to make them all sick. The people were ungrateful and full of grumbling, so God punished them with their own request. There’s no doubt that God hates grumbling.

At first glance, I typically reduce the Israelites down to a bunch of woosies. Yet, I’m no different from them. I get so caught up in what I don’t have that I forget what I do have. And when I finally get what I want, I say “About time! Took long enough!” The Lord is patient indeed.


First Class Complaining

Over the weekend, Kyle Idleman told a story about a time when he got bumped up to first class and sat next what he described as a “professional complainer”. Anything and everything was wrong, and this guy had the facts to prove it. In fact, he was so astute at offering grievances that he happened to mention “Since this plane was built, the average butt size of the passengers in coach have grown over 6 inches. Look it up. It’s true”. Buoyed in a cushioned flying seat moving over 300 mph through the sky, all this guy could think about was how the brilliant light coming through the window was too bright. Talk about crotchety. As Kyle was leaving the plane, he struck up a conversation with the flight attendant to apologize for the first class party pooper. Without batting an eye, the flight attendant responded “Oh, we expect that from our first class customers. First class always complains more than coach.”

Her response struck a frayed chord in the wired chaos of my mind. Not only does an increase in standard of living have little effect on my contentedness as a person, but it seems to actually prevent it. Perhaps that’s why the ostracized orphans in Africa find so much joy in what little they have. Perhaps that’s why a leper left on the outskirts on society can worship with abundant joy to the old hymn, Count Ye Many Blessings. Perhaps that’s why when kids in Haiti are given something tremendously valuable to them, their first impulse is to share it with everyone around them. It turns out that comfort doesn’t lead to contentment, but it can actually work against it.

Black Friday: When we go out and fight over things we want the day after we said we were thankful for all we had. I’m not bashing the tradition—Rachel and I had a blast shopping on Black Friday—I’m just pointing out a trend. If the world is an airplane, America is first class. While most in this world are thankful for the bare necessities, we get jealous when another iPhone comes out 6 months after we bought ours. When I find myself not being intentionally thankful like I do on Turkey Day, I turn into a grumbling Grinch. Likewise, my income is poised to keep growing, so I need to be vigilant to keep my increasing abundance from becoming increasing discontent. Fortunately, Jesus knows just the thing: invest it in others!


The War on Grumbling
I’m tired of being ungrateful. Paul admonishes us to be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. In other words, he tells us to declare war on grumbling and battle ingratitude with contentedness. Our Father in Heaven is such a good father, so we can trust that He’s given us the exact amount of gifts we can handle. A good father doesn’t spoil their child with every selfish request nor do they let their children go without all their needs fulfilled. If we pray and don’t receive, we can trust that it’s not what we need. God is so jealous for our affection; He knows that we were meant to run off of His love. Don’t think God won’t remove anything that is keeping you from Him.


When you find yourself next to a thankful person, it’s infectious; you have no choice but to see the good things and be thankful. Join me in declaring a war on grumbling. Our lives—and our relationships—will be much improved because of it.