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PROGRAM D-7925

Do you know how to be a good complainer? I’ve been sharing with you the cure for complaining, and I hope you will put these five cures into practice. Now I want to show you how to complain. For sure, life is full of things we don’t like, things that aren’t good. Sometimes we just need to complain. Well, here’s how to do it.

In Psalm 142:1-2, David said “I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble.”

King David had some genuine complaints, but he knew where to go with them: He poured them out before the Lord. Do you take your complaints to the Lord and actually verbalize them to him? You should, because he understands you, he cares about you, he’s always there to listen, and he has answers. Instead of complaining to everyone around you, why not tell the one person who invites you to bring all your cares and problems to him, because he cares for you?

I notice as David spelled out his complaint to God, he heard his own words, which led him back into right thinking. He says later in the chapter, “I cry to you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’ Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name” (Psalm 142:5,7).

I find that when I pour out my complaints to God, I start to gain perspective: I realize that they’re not as big as I thought they were. I also realize that I’m a captive to my own complaining spirit. Once I see that, then God can set me free from that prison of griping and complaining.

Philippians 2:14 says we are to do everything without complaining or arguing. Listen to the great benefits of practicing this biblical principle: “…so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life” (Philippians 2:15-16). We will shine like stars and show others Jesus as we learn to do everything without complaining.

What a great testimony Christians would have—especially in the marketplace—if we truly took our complaints to the Lord—to him only—and replaced our complaining spirits with his joy and peace!