Research shows that most people complain once a minute during a typical conversation. Complaining is tempting because it feels good, but like many other things complaining isn’t good for you.
The problem with many complaints is that they can become a way to vent, as opposed to a way to solve a problem. When you stay focused on a complaint, you are empowering negativity and allowing it to expand and take over. Thus, rather than resolving problems and creating change, complaining can become ineffective and create unnecessary stress.
Faithless complaining ignores God’s potential. There’s a faithful (believing) way to complain and a faithless (unbelieving) way to complain. In the Bible there is a report of ten spies as an example of faithless complaining.
Numbers 13:31-33 “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us. . . . The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. We became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight”
God had opened the sea to save them, the heavens to feed them, and the rocks to provide water for them. He had defeated mighty armies throughout their wilderness trek. Certainly, He could deal with any problems the new land might present.
This is what God said about the faithless complaining of Israel in the wilderness in Exodus 32:9 “The LORD added, “I’ve seen these people, and they are impossible to deal with.”
Faithless complaining is always a wasteful pastime. It refuses to believe that God can conquer any problem or condition.
James 5:9 “Do not grumble against one another”
Ephesians 4:29b (NLT)”Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”
The psalmist often complained to God about his problems. However, he never lost confidence in God’s faithfulness, power, and love. In praying we should commit our problems to God’s care.
David, in the midst of deep trials, said, Psalm 142:1-2,(MSG) “I cry out loudly to GOD… I spill out all my complaints before him, and spell out my troubles in detail”.
We simply can’t pray in a way that will honour God when we grumble in unbelief.
1 Peter 5:7 encourages us: “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
We must turn our complaints into confidence, our grumbling into gratitude, and our whining into worship.