"Complaining"

"Wherefore doth a living man complain.....? Lamentations 3:39a

Recently, it seems like everywhere I go I wind up in the company of complaining people... and many of them are professing Christians. The complaints that I hear are not confined to one area, but every area. I hear complaints about everything from the weather to what someone else is doing. People tend to complain about everything that doesn't go their way. We want what we want, when we want it and the way we want it. If it is not to our liking-- we complain about it.

The problem with complaining is that it shows a lack of gratitude. When you complain about your food, it shows that you aren't grateful for the fact that you have something to eat and are not going hungry. When you complain about your spouse, it shows that you aren't thankful for that person. And whether you realize it or not, the primary focus and object of your complaint is God. You are saying that what He has done for you is not good enough. This was the problem with the Israelites in the wilderness. You would have thought that they would have been so thankful to be out from under Egyptian bondage that there would never be a complaint in their mouths ever again--- wrong. They complained about everything, even the blessings the Lord was sending them.

Another problem is that complaining is contagious. When you are around someone and they start complaining, it is easy to get pulled into that complaining spirit yourself. (If you ever talk to any one about politics you'll see this happen real quick.)

The Bible tells us that godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6) As I said earlier, complaining comes as a result of things not going the way we want them to go. The truth of the matter is, as long as we live in this world, things will not always go the way we want them to go-- they will go the opposite more times then not. There are plenty of reasons to complain all around us. But we need to learn how to be content with such as we have so we won't be guilty of complaining. If we will have an attitude of gratitude- regardless of the fact that all we have is "manna" and "no meat", then we will not be complaining people. Because when you get down to it, the blessings and good things that we have are far more than we should have.

Have a great day. Let your gratitude outweigh your complaining.

For further reading:
Psalm 144:13-15
Exodus 16:8
John 6:43
1 Corinthians 10:10

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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