How to Complain and Be Miserable (Numbers 11.2) ‣ Praying Through the Bible

But the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated.

Do you ever complain? Of course you do—we all do. We complain about our life, our surroundings, or the people around us. Complaining is not always bad. In the right amount and done the right way, it can lead us to make positive changes, to adopt a new perspective, or to help us see a problem.

Background

The prayer in Numbers 11.2 is a model of complaining. The previous prayer (Num 10.35–36) described how God would protect his people and help them defeat their enemies. Immediately after, we read that the Israelites are complaining. It must be of the kind we described above—constant and negative—because it makes God angry. He is so angry that he sends fire down to destroy parts of the people’s camp. Maybe this was a warning shot, for it does have an effect on the people: they go and complain to Moses!

Moses could have then, perhaps, gone to God and complained, but he did not. Instead, he offered a prayer for complainers—an intercession. God listens to Moses and douses the fire. Sadly, this story is the first in a pattern that re-occurs for the next fourteen chapters. The people complain, God sends a warning, they cry to Moses, Moses prays, God relents. At times, even Moses turns to complaining—none of us are above it.