The Art of Complaining and Grumbling

Or, "How to eat your turkey without whining."

We don’t struggle with the abstract things said in the pulpit; we struggle with their application. So, for example, if I say, “Language is a gift from God that ought to reshape our humanity,” you might respond, “Well, that’s beautiful, Pastor Brito. I am going to quote you on that,” but if I say, “Quit grumbling like a spoiled child,” then, you might say, “Well, that’s way too personal.”

Theology in big categories is necessary to form our application. Without the big categories, we will end our days at the self-help section of Barnes & Noble. If we don’t do the hard theological work, we will end up with weird notions of life—thinking that certain things are acceptable when the biblical reality says otherwise.

The Wilderness Experiment

The wilderness provided Israel with many opportunities to test God’s applications of his law. And inevitably, when God said that he would do something out of the ordinary, what did the people do: