Whine and Cheese
Walk around the congregation for a few minutes complaining.
Reminds me of a guy I used to work with who called complainers whinebabies. When I used to hear people whining and complaining, I would ask them what kind of cheese they wanted to go with their whine. Sometimes they understood, usually not. Too busy whining.
Why do people complain? – One reason is that they are anxious about how people perceive them or how they are treated.
At the beginning of a new year, a high school principal decided to post his teachers’ new year’s resolutions on the bulletin board. As the teachers gathered around the bulletin board, a great commotion started. One of the teachers was complaining. "Why weren’t my resolutions posted?"
She was throwing such a temper tantrum that the principal hurried to his office to see if he had overlooked her resolutions. Sure enough, he had mislaid them on his desk. As he read her resolutions he was astounded. This teacher’s first resolution was not to let little things upset her in the New Year. #2251
Another reason: They aren’t getting their way. Martha went whining to Jesus because Mary wasn’t helping her in the kitchen and she whined because Jesus didn’t come when SHE thought He should have when Lazarus was sick. Our kids whine because they wanted to go to eat at this restaurant, not the one the parents, the ones who have jobs and are paying for the meal, pick out. We whine because we wanted to do this and our friends want to do that and we’re outvoted. The brother of the prodigal son whined because he never got to party with his friends and have the fatted calf for dinner. I NEVER GET TO DO ANYTHING!!
Another Reason: People complain to intimidate. In our scripture today, they complain to Moses, trying to get him to turn around and lead them back to Egypt. How many of you have ever worked for or heard of a boss who complained about the work the people under him did because he’s on a power trip and he’s the boss and you better know it?
Another reason: Life’s not fair. Now it’s not other people that aren’t fair to them, it’s life in general that isn’t fair. We’ve been planning this picnic all week and now, of all days, it has to rain on the day we chose for our picnic. Never mind that the farmers haven’t had rain for a month. Why did I have to have you for parents? Billy’s mom & dad let him stay up till 11:00 and he can watch whatever he wants. It’s not fair. Everybody gets to do what they want except me. Wah, wah, wah.
Finally, some people just aren’t happy unless they’re complaining.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that complainers seldom complain directly to the people who can take care of it. They will complain to everyone who will listen but not to the one they are whining about.
And it’s never their fault. When something goes wrong, we look for someone to blame. Then we feel better because, if someone else
is to blame, it can’t be us. The people of Israel do the same thing. They’re in the desert, nothing to eat, so they blame Moses and Aaron. That’s not right but it’s understandable. Moses and Aaron do the smart thing and refer the problem up one level of management, which in this case is God.
Most of the whining is done because we’re never satisfied. Do we focus on what we have, or what we don’t? Prodigal son’s brother didn’t get to party. Martha didn’t get any help in the kitchen. We can afford to eat out. Maybe not where you want, but you’re eating out. Maybe you can’t stay up as late as you want, but your parents are involved in your life and set rules for your own good. It’s always, “Gimme, gimme, gimme”. We complain because others have what we don’t.
You all know that God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. Do you know what He did on the 8th day? He started answering complaints. God is patient but even His patience has limits. Saying goes: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. But I’ll tell you what, sometimes the squeaky wheel gets replaced. They complained so much that most of them never got to enter the Promised Land.
The people were hungry and whined about it. They made unfair comparisons. They remembered best times of slavery. Still, on the journey, the Exodus, no one starved. It is manna that falls from heaven upon the people of Israel - not brimstone. It is quail that come to their camp - not the plagues of Egypt. It is water that flows from the rocks that Moses leads them to - not poison.
Numbers 11:1 reads, “Now the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them and consumed some of the outlying parts of the camp. But the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.”
Prayer, not complaining, whining, or grumbling, is God’s way to change things.
Yet, how often do we, unlike the Israelites, complain directly to God, and call it prayer? Well, believe it or not, that’s not prayer. If you start talking to God, saying things like, “God, why did you let that happen? Do you have any idea of what you just let happen? It’s not fair that Cindy got that promotion instead of me. Don’t you care that I needed that extra money? You know how much I wanted it but I guess you just don’t care”, or “why do I have to look like this? Why did you make me fat/skinny/short/tall?” People actually think they’re praying when they talk to God like that. When we pray to God, we should do so with humility, asking that His will be done. Actually, I think it takes a lot of nerve to talk to God like that.
Paul tells us in Romans 9:20-21, “But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for a special use and another for ordinary use?”
Who are we to complain to God about how we’re made, or the job He’s given us to do, or that we don’t have what someone else does? Who are we to whine at God about anything? Who are we to grumble about not having a new car or the biggest house, when our car runs and the roof doesn’t leak?
God provides for us - He gives us what we need, when we need it, just as he did for Israel during the Exodus. Looking back - what have you lacked? You may not have had meat each day or the tastiest bread but haven’t your needs been met?
So focus on what the Lord HAS given you because the Lord WILL provide and you don’t even have to whine for it.
