Are You Grumbling Through Your Hallway?

Call me weird, but I love the Old Testament, particularly the “difficult” books like Numbers. Yes, they can be a bit dry reading at times, but I’ve discovered that they also often offer the greatest pearls of truth that jump out at me off the page. I have wonder if that’s because these are the types of books I least expect it from.

This past week, I was reading Numbers chapter 11, when the words seemed to leap off the page at me:

“Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused” (verse 1, NKJV).

Some of you know that my family is going through a season of waiting. We’re trying to sell our house, which has been difficult, to put it mildly. We have to clean the house from top to bottom every day just in case our agent calls to ask if someone can come view our home. And so we clean…but almost always, it’s for naught. In the 4+ months our home has been on the market, we’ve had exactly 5 showings, not including the time when an agent said she was going to come with a client and never showed up.

Even though this is a minor hallway compared to what many people are experiencing, it’s still trying in its own right. And I’ve noticed that not only have I been tempted to complain, but my spark plugs seem particularly grouchy as well.

But that verse that I read this past week stopped me in my tracks. There are a lot of benefits to not having moved yet. We get to be closer to my family for longer. We get to be with our church family during the difficult season of losing our pastor’s wife. We’re near the Pacific Ocean, one of Jon’s most beloved places on Earth. The list of benefits goes on and on.

The problem was that I was focused solely on the drawbacks of not having sold our house yet. And because of that singular spotlight, I’d begun to grow disgruntled, and grumbling was the inevitable result. I sat down with the kids and talked with them about how we can choose our attitude even if we can’t choose our circumstances - how we need to be grateful for what we currently have instead of grousing about what we don’t.

There were 4 key points I wanted to impress on each of our hearts, my own included, and I thought they might also make a helpful blog post as well.

Grieving is not the same as grumbling

Our church family is certainly grieving over our deep loss. Jon’s family is grieving over the sudden passing of his uncle last November. And I’m grieving the distance that likely will soon separate me from my extended family.

Grief is not wrong or sinful. In fact, the Bible has quite a bit to say about grief; Jesus Himself experienced sorrow (see Luke 19:41 and John 11:35).

It’s vitally important that we don’t confuse grieving with grumbling. Grumbling is complaining about our circumstances, but grieving is being sorrowful over them. We might even feel anger at times about our loss, depending on the situation. All of that is normal, and as long as we are willing to preach truth to ourselves from God’s Word, we’ll get through the grief and the wild emotions that go with it.

But grumbling is something else entirely. Grumbling is discontentment with what God has planned or allowed. While we sorrow because of our losses, we can do so while saying, “Thy will be done.”

We can’t choose our circumstances, but we can choose our heart attitude

One time when I was a child, my family was planning a vacation. One of my siblings was not shy about expressing his opinion on the upcoming trip - namely, he didn’t think he would enjoy himself and didn’t want to go. My mom finally put a stop to the grumbling by saying, “A person could be miserable even in Disney Land [supposedly the happiest place on Earth] if he decided to. You do not have a choice about going, but you do have a choice about whether or not you enjoy the experience.”

That statement ended my sibling’s complaint, and it also stayed with me into adulthood. God asks us to be thankful in all circumstances (see 1 Thessalonians 5:18) and to do all things without complaining (see Philippians 2:14). My mom had been absolutely right when she explained, essentially, that we can decide whether or not we’ll be thankful in the hallway.

If we begin to grumble, we can repent

We all have a choice about how we respond to our situation in life, but even the most upbeat stoic among us is going to have a bad day now and then. I tend to be a glass-half-full kinda gal, but if enough troubles conspire against me at the same time, if my health takes a nosedive, or if I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed, I’ll start grumbling pretty quickly.

The good news is that when we begin to grumble, we can repent of our sin and go back to choosing contentment. Admitting that we’ve fallen (again!) isn’t always easy. Some days, I feel like I stumble way more often than I make right choices! But the Lord promises to forgive us when we confess our sin (1 John 1:9). He also tells us that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). These two promises from Scripture go a long way toward helping us to repent of our grumbling and sin whenever we realize that complaining has once again set in!

We can encourage one another to choose gratitude

One of the best things we can do as believers is to encourage each other to do what is right. When someone is discouraged and is tempted to grumble (I’m raising my hand to admit that this has often been me), we should come alongside him or her with prayer, promises from Scripture, and support for the situation.

One thing I want my spark plugs to understand is that even at their young ages, they can either help one another choose good attitudes, or they can join their siblings in grumbling and having grumpy attitudes. It’s not always easy to choose the Godly option in those situations, but I want them to know that they are never too little to help encourage others toward love and good works (Hebrews 10:24).

When I was struggling with some of my health issues, Jon lovingly told me, “Well, sweetie, now we get a front-row seat to see how God is going to work!” Although I wasn’t able to get as excited as he was right at that moment, I knew that Jon was right, and it did help me to put aside some of the anxiety I was feeling at the time.

The Bible tells us that life here on Earth isn’t going to be all sunshine and roses. We will have trials at times, the purpose of which is to draw us closer to Christ (which is always a good thing!). As we deal with our hallways and are tempted to complain, it’s good to remember that grief is not the same as grumbling; that we can choose contentment even when we can’t choose our circumstances; that we can repent when grumbling sets in; and that we can encourage one another to choose gratitude. It won’t always be easy to do those things, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can enjoy the hallway instead of grumbling through it!