I don’t mean to be. But it’s something I struggle with. On my better days I’m a “problem solver” or an “issue tackler” or “discerning”. But those days are far and few between. I fall short of Philipians 2:14’s terse instructions.

It seems like I may not be alone. If you haven’t seen this 4 minute + clip from Louis C.K. on Conan, you may want to pause and go have a laugh or two:

If you can’t relate to anything Louis said, you probably can’t relate to my struggle.

I’ve been thinking about this topic because of something Pastor Derrick Shields said during a message about people pleasing and being controlling. You can view or listen to the message here: http://www.ccclive.org/messages.html.

As Derrick was bringing the Word, my mind wandered to one of my favorite passages in Scripture: Numbers 11. It’s not on my favorites list because it gives me the warm and fuzzies, unless you mean the kind of warm and fuzzies you feel when you know your are getting sick or after eating food that’s about to make a rapid encore when you wish this show would end already.

What didn’t really hit me unit I looked at a map was that the Israelites took the scenic tour before arriving at the Promised Land! They were so close, and then they failed to do the one thing that their wandering should have shown them how to do: trust God.

Food, shelter, and protection are the three things most people worry about, especially when an emergency hits or at least when they go camping. And the Lord their God certainly provided all three during the Israelites wanderings. God set them free from the heavy yoke of slavery that Egypt’s supreme ruler placed upon them for generations and even sent them packing with loot to boot.  At one point God even provided water from a stone. Yet the people found reasons galore to complain.

None of the complaining episodes stick in my mind more than when a group of them ended up choking on the excess that God unleashed upon them. Instead of being satisfied with this amazing manna literally falling from the sky, some of these freed slaves were craving the good ole’ days back in Egypt, when they were slaves, making bricks, in the heat while being slaves.

Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed.  “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted.  But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna! Nu 11:4-6, NLT

Granted, it’s the “foreign rabble” that started it. But like any good parent, apparently God isn’t concerned with who started it. What He was concerned with was all the complaining that ensured. Moses, not really known for his patience, was also at his wits end.  This dude basically reminded God that these were His kids, not Moses’!

In order to getting Moses some help, and spread the complaining around, God infused 70 other men with some Holy Spirit juice. And He promised to send meat. A lot of meat. One of Moses’ weaknesses is that he sometimes forgot who he was talking to, and he would sometimes kinda sorta doubt God – to His face. Which, for the record, I totally get. I mean, it’s totally easy to judge Moses, but we have the rest of the book, he didn’t. So let’s cut the poor guy some slack.

The answer to overcoming the meat shortage was God sending in a very large sum of quail. Now quail are pretty small birds, but what they lacked in size, God made up for in quantity. There were enough so that each person could get about 480 gallons or 2,200 liters (Nu. 11:32)! And mind you Moses had just finished saying he has 600,000 foot soldiers, which didn’t even include the teens and anyone not enlisted (Nu 11:21). All that to say, there were a lot of quail getting caught and being dried in the camp.

But sometimes answered prayers aren’t a blessing. Sometimes they are God giving us what we most desire and allowing us to live with the consequences. The saying, “be careful what you wish for” comes to mind.

But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the LORD blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means “graves of gluttony”) because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt. Nu 11:34-34, NLT

This isn’t the only instance of complaining in the Bible, but it’s so instructive to my own heart. Firstly, I like meat and can relate to the gluttony (though honestly I’d be complaining about the lack of chocolate, Starbucks, and ice cream). I can also relate to erring in two ways: thinking the past or the future is better. There’s nothing wrong with either recalling good times, or dreaming of the future. But when I only run the highlight reels of the past, then I can easily forget the lowlight moments. Yearning for the glory days is only cool in song, the rest of us know it wasn’t really full of touch downs and being prom king or queen.  The same goes for the future. Unless dreaming of the future allows me to make decision that lead to loving God and people more, then those dreams are not really helping, they are hurting.  They are there to allow me to escape my present.

Living in a fully-fulfilled “ahhhh” life is good sort of complacency in the here and now is something our culture wants us to avoid. Just watch television and tell me how many products are available to make your life better or easier. Tell me how many programs don’t cause some sort of coveting (better body, better relationships, better technology, better life). Even checking out at your local grocery store can make you feel like your missing out on the latest gossip, news, or tricks to get that better X Y or Z.

Learning to be content in hardship and plenty is something I need to pick up from Paul (Phil 4:11). When Paul wrote to Timothy he told him that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim 6:6). In fact, food and clothing ought to be enough (1 Tim 6:8). The author of Hebrews presses in hard against our idols, “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave nor forsake you’” (Heb 13:5).

That last verse is the key for me. Pressing on toward a more glorious goal of pleasing God (Phil 3:14), because what treasure could be better than to be satisfied in Him – who gave His all. What, then, can I complain about?  Even the suffering in this life can be redeemed (2 Cor 12:10, Romans 8:18, Eph 3:13).  Despite things breaking, health failing, people being crazy, or anything else this world, our flesh, or the Devil can throw at the ones who are in Christ, being found in Christ, we can stand.  We can endure.  We don’t have to complain.  Because to do so is to forget Whom we belong to, and it’s denying His provision in our lives in all circumstances.

Let my words and thoughts then be about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8).