Daily Devotional, Sept 15, 2023 The “I” in whine

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

Ask any mom, and she will tell you that one of her parenting stress triggers is when her kids whine. As soon as their little ones learn how to talk, parents would start hearing a small whine here, and then a small whine there. First about the clothes that they wear, then the food they have to eat, and then the toy that they would like to have. And this will go on until they leave the nest.

In reality, human whining will never stop. The situation just changes, why we whine, and whom we whine too. Have we ever stopped to think if we are a whiny mom? That we get irked by our kids’ whining, but we ourselves complain all day about anything and everything? And to whom do we address all the complaints? To our spouse, to our kids, to people around us, name it. But all these complaints go directly to God’s ears. It is like a Direct Message to the Lord, which He surely sees and reads — unlike some DMs that are unseen and unread by our fellow humans who have been callous to our complaints.

God is compassionate, kind and patient, but He can also get angry because of too much whining. In the book of Numbers, God got a bit fed up with the complaints of the Israelites who have been grumbling as they journey to the Promised Land.

He earlier heeded their complaints — they had been freed from the Egyptians, water gushed out from the rock when they said they were parched, manna fell from the heavens when they said they had nothing to eat. Yet they still kept on ranting. Out of anger, God sent poisonous snakes that bit and killed them. Numbers 21:6 recounts “Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.”

But while God’s anger somehow dissipated through Moses’ prayer, and He saved the remaining repentant Israelites, we as Christians should remember that we could also incur God’s wrath because of ungratefulness.

How many times did we ever complain about being overwhelmed with the kids’ schedules and routines? Did we ever think that if we are unable to send them to a good school then we will not have a busy schedule to muster? How about whining about the messy house?The traffic even if we are inside our air conditioned vehicles? Or having to prepare food, wash tons of laundry, and dirty dishes? You see, before all of these daily complaints, we have been praying for these provisions. Now that it was granted, we rant and ask for more, or for something else. Did we ever stop to think of how the Lord feels whenever we complain?

Let us follow Jesus’ example. He is the Son of God yet He did not have the feeling of entitlement. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah it was said “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

The apostle Paul also encouraged us to live a life contentment in Christ, as he shared his struggles to the Philippians “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-12)

Complaining is the opposite of thanksgiving. When we give thanks, we are reminded of the faithfulness of the Lord, and how he has immensely blessed us in spite of our failures and weaknesses. Let us live a life of gratitude and pass this godly character trait to our children.

Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on  1 Timothy 6:6-10 to dig deeper on today’s topic.

Reflection Question: When was the last time you complained about your life? Was it really something worth complaining about?  

Conversation with the Lord:  Heavenly Father, I am sorry for the many times I have been grumbling. For the times I feel so entitled to not suffer or feel hardships. You have been blessing me and my family immensely, and these blessings are what I should focus on instead. Forgive me for complaining, and help me become a better mom who can be a good model of contentment and gratefulness to my children. Amen.