Complaining in the Bible: A Grumbler’s Reflection on Discontent
- Jack Selcher
- Jul 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 15
We consistently analyze life for negatives. We will consider the reason for that shortly.
I walked past my garden on July 7, 2025, and saw deer tracks everywhere. I also noticed that several of my tomato plants’ tops had been chewed off.
I connected the two. The deer were eating my tomato plants. Unfortunately, I can’t do much to stop them. I haven’t seen them in the garden even once, but their tracks give them away.
While writing this blog, I saw one of our blueberry bushes moving outside a window that is in front of my desk. I saw three young robins eating green blueberries that won’t be ripe for at least a month.
Earlier in the day, I wondered why those bushes had fewer blueberries on them than they did a week earlier. Now I know.
I shared my discoveries with my wife. My smoldering discontent erupted into complaining. I grew those tomato plants from seed and had spent considerable energy caring for them…!
Moreover, since the birds have found our blueberry bushes, we could forget about eating any of them. They will consume them all. Smoking discontentment! But wise people are content!
Smoldering discontent emerges frequently in our lives like mushrooms do during a damp summer night. Why?
Regardless of our visual acuity, we have 20/20 vision for life’s negatives. It is one reason we are still alive. We look for negatives because our survival might depend on detecting them. A poisonous snake in our path is a serious threat. So is a car weaving erratically ahead on the highway.
We are experts at spotting life’s negatives. From God’s perspective, we are far too good at it. Especially when we accuse Him of unfair treatment, like the workers in the vineyard who expected better treatment than they received (Matthew 20:11). Our pride whispers that we deserve more and better of everything.
We might be surprised to learn that complaining in the Bible is almost universally condemned. Instead of overflowing with thanksgiving and gratitude to God in all circumstances (Colossians 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:18), our spillover too often takes the shape of perpetual murmuring, grumbling, and complaining about our situation.
Notice what Jude associated with grumblers. “These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.” (Jude 1:16 NLT).
Self-centeredness is the cream in the complaining cookie. We complain about others to subtly boast about ourselves. We magnify their weaknesses and faults, feeling superior to them because we are sure we are better than they are.
The Israelites frequently grumbled about their circumstances. They complained against Moses because they had nothing to drink (Exodus 15:24; 16:2; 17:3). Moses said that God heard their grumbling, which was against Him (Exodus 16:7, 8, 12), not their leaders.
God responded mercifully by providing bread and meat for them to eat so they would know He was the Lord their God. But grumblers shouldn’t count on receiving God’s mercy. Complaining is an affront to His faithfulness.
It is living like God is a one-star shepherd (Psalm 23:1). Grumbling demonstrates contempt, pride, and a refusal to trust God (Numbers 14:11).
God barred the Israelites twenty years old or more from entering the Promised Land because of their trust-and-obedience-deficient grumbling (Numbers 14:29; Deuteronomy 1:27; Psalm 106:25). Such grumbling irritates God (Numbers 17:5, 10).
Because of it, God sent the death angel who killed the firstborn during the Passover in Egypt to bring the plague of Numbers 16:46-50. The Apostle Paul commanded the Corinthians (and us) not to be like those Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:10).
Grumbling and arguing are not the Christian way (Philippians 2:14). James warns that God will judge those who grumble against other believers (James 5:9). Instead, believers are to offer hospitality to one another devoid of underlying smoldering discontent (1 Peter 4:9).
Our tendency to obsessively scan life for negatives can interfere with and untrack living by faith in God’s character, promises, and supply. God is enough. He will give us what we need when we need it. We can trust Him.
Grumbling against God and other believers is a serious offense, showing a lack of trust and obedience. Humility helps us eliminate or minimize unhealthy grumbling and maximize healthy gratitude and thanksgiving. When we consider that we deserve only Hell, God has been unimaginably gracious to us. See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.
See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com.
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