Hello friends! One thing that I see a whole lot of people talking about in the church is this concept of God hating complaining. Many people think that God doesn't want us to complain to Him or tell Him when we want Him to do more for us. Some people even believe that complaining prevents you from entering into your prophetic promise and they use the Israelites in Numbers as an example of that. I can see how this can be confusing for many people so I would like to shed some light on this subject. God did NOT punish the Israelites for complaining about Him. He punished them because they were WILLFULLY rebelling against Him in their hearts. The Israelites were a group of people who had seen MULTIPLE HUGE miracles that God performed for them. Miracles so big that they are mentioned multiple times throughout the bible, and are so big that people usually refer to them when people say that something is "biblical" in terms of being big or epic. These miracles were multiple extreme displays of God's power, authority, and realness. And yet the Israelites continued to reject God's presence and goodness in their lives when they had seen numerous examples of God coming through for them. The complaints that they had about God were not true complaints. They were the manifestation of their rebellion, unbelief, and refusal to see the truth that was directly in front of their faces. They willfully went against God time and time again and God punished them because they refused to change. They literally did not want to enter into the promise land so God simply gave them what they wanted. And all of these truths can be found in Numbers 14.
All night long the people cried out in distress. They complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, “It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness! Why is the Lord taking us into that land? We will be killed in battle, and our wives and children will be captured. Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!” Then Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground in front of all the people. And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the spies, tore their clothes in sorrow and said to the people, “The land we explored is an excellent land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will take us there and give us that rich and fertile land. Do not rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people who live there. We will conquer them easily. The Lord is with us and has defeated the gods who protected them; so don't be afraid.” The whole community was threatening to stone them to death, but suddenly the people saw the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appear over the Tent. The Lord said to Moses, “How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them?
Numbers 14:1-11 GNTD
The Lord answered, “I will forgive them, as you have asked. But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me. They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it.
Numbers 14:20-23 GNTD
So this goes to show that it was not the complaints that made God upset, but it was their REFUSAL to see the truth about Him after God had repeatedly given so much of Himself to them. Performing miracle after miracle for them to see who He was, yet they refused to see Him with their own eyes. And if this is not enough to convince you that God is okay with complaints, there are many examples of prophets in the bible that have complained to God and He responded by being chill about it. Like Jeremiah and Jonah for example, but to give a clear cut example of God being okay with complaints is best shown through Habakkuk. Habakkuk was complaining to God about how he felt that God wasn't doing enough to stop the oppression that the Babylonians were committing against the Israelites. And God did not respond in anger toward Habakkuk, but He told him that the promise of them being saved will happen eventually. And that can be seen in the verses below:
Lord, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. Lord, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us. But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are? How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything. Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?
Habakkuk 1:12-17 GNTD
I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer he will give to my complaint. The Lord gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’”
Habakkuk 2:1-4 GNTD
So this goes to further prove that God is okay with His people complaining to Him. God wants us to express our true feelings to Him no matter how "negative" they may seem to us. God is a big man, and He can handle any emotion that you throw at Him. So if you wanna complain go ahead and do it! It may just make you feel better!
They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well.
Jeremiah 6:14 GNTD
Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 GNTD
There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.
1 John 4:18 GNTD
Leave your troubles with the Lord, and he will defend you; he never lets honest people be defeated.
Psalm 55:22 GNTD
