Complaints vs. Murmurings

As I was reading Psalm 77 this morning, a word leapt off the page. (This happens a lot—I'm convinced my Bible is full of words waiting on little springs to jump up and grab my attention and arrest my meditation.)

“I complained,” says the Psalmist.

I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.—Psalm 77:3

But wait, I thought, didn't the children of Israel mess up with their complaining? Aren't we told in Scripture to do all things without murmurings and disputings?

Murmuring... “the people murmured against Moses...” (Exodus 15:24)

I'm not about to make an airtight argument in defense of complaining—indeed, the first use of the word comes in Numbers 11:1: “when the people complained, it displeased the LORD:” But the fact that the Psalmist complained remains, and I want to explore this thought.

Asaph, the writer of Psalm 77, says that his spirit was overwhelmed. David, too, in Psalm 142, pours out his complaint and says his spirit was overwhelmed. Psalm 102 is entirely a “prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.”

Overwhelmed. How well we can relate to that word.

Life can be overwhelming at times. Troubles and difficulties come. We feel cast off from God, forgotten, unable to find His mercy. Oftentimes in those moments I feel I should not complain; that it would be sinful for me to complain.

But what if the problem isn't in the complaint but in the posture of my heart?

The children of Israel complained from a position of discontentment. They wanted what they could not find: food and water. As you read their murmurings in Exodus, you can sense the rebellious doubting of Moses and of God to meet their most basic needs.

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; —Jude 1:16

The Psalmists who complained did so with a different tenor. Their complaints are followed by verses remembering the wondrous works of God, praising Him, and seeking His refuge.

Almost twenty years ago now, I graduated law school. I left that calling when I became a mother. While I haven't seen the inside of a courtroom in over 12 years, I still enjoying seeing some analogies from the legal realm.

In court, the initial Petition is often called a "Complaint"— a lawyer lays out the wrongs and grievances in a thoughtful manner. There should be no frivolity in taking up the court's time with a gripe about a minor injustice. At the end of the Complaint usually comes the Prayer for Relief, or what the Petitioner desires for the outcome. The other side makes a Response, and sometimes a case never makes it to trial because one side is so clearly in the right. When a judge can rule in favor of a party without hearing any more evidence, that's called summary judgment. (I'll come back to this in a minute.)

When I read the murmurings of the children of Israel, I just see frivolous whining, even slander. "What shall we drink?" "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt!" And the men who were sent to spy out the land "made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land." (Numbers 14:36)

I don't see any murmurings marked with remembrance of God's goodness. In fact, the Psalms are quite clear that they forgot His good works. Other words accompany murmuring, like provoked, grieved, tempted, believed not.

When I am tempted to complain, I need to be careful that it does not slide into murmuring. There is a fine line between the two.

But God did not reject the Psalmists who complained. He didn't rebuke Hannah who poured out her soul in an abundance of complaint and grief. (1 Samuel 1:16) He didn't forsake Job in his complaints. Why? Examine the heart posture. The Psalmists praised God for His goodness. Hannah was humble in her prayer for a son. Even though Job mourned and complained, he declared “though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” (Job 13:15)

It's okay to be overwhelmed. It's okay to not see the path. But when we lay out our complaint before the Court of Heaven, let us follow it with praise and thanksgiving for what God has done.

Let's not be so focused on our own desires, our own pain, seeing only what we don't have. Pray for relief, but be surrendered to the response. He doeth all things well. All things work together for good.

God will give an answer and win summary judgment every time.

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