Complain and Pray
Numbers 21:4-9
May 9, 2021 anno Domini
When you complain God hears you. Your complaints are therefore prayers and that’s okay. If you’re going to complain you might as well complain to God since He can do something about your complaints. If you think you shouldn’t complain to God then argue with King David because he complained a lot in the Psalms.
Psalm 6 – I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears.
Psalm 13 – How long O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
Psalm 38 – My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.
Psalm 55 – Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked.
The Israelites complained on their way to the promised land. (read 5b) They complained to Moses, but the Lord heard them. Moses points us to Jesus. Only through Jesus does the Lord hear your prayers. Your prayers are not always true or good, but Jesus is. Jesus is how your prayers get through.
The prayers of unbelievers are not heard by God. Maybe they are heard, but they are not answered. Why? Because they are not God’s children. In the same way no unbeliever will enter the resurrection to life. There is no life for those who do not believe in Jesus because they are not God’s children.
With your prayers you are walking into God’s living room and asking your Father in heaven to put down His iPhone or stop playing cribbage with the Holy Spirit, and listen to you. The only way you dare interrupt God and expect a hearing is because you are His child. The only way to be His child is to love Jesus and believe that the Son came from the Father. You are God’s child through faith in Jesus so you can ask Him with the same boldness and confidence a young child asks his dad for a bag of M&Ms or chocolate chip pancakes on a Saturday morning. Or the way an older child dares to ask for his first car or a loan for his first house.
The Father hears your prayers through His Son. If you have no faith, then you have no Jesus and therefore no access to the Father and no right for an answer. This is what it means when Jesus says, (read John 16:23b) . You ask the Father in the name of the Son – that’s believing Jesus died for your sins and rose again for your justification. That’s believing you were made God’s child through your baptism into Christ. That’s believing Jesus’ death and resurrection are your death for sin and your resurrection to a new life as a child of God. So when you pray in the name of Jesus you are praying with the recognition that God is your Father. He’s greater than you. He’s smarter than you. He’s bigger than you. He knows what you need more than you know what you need. You love Him because of Jesus and therefore you trust He will answer as He promised and give you what is best for you.
The Father hears your prayers in the name of Jesus and answers your prayers with Jesus. That’s what happened in the wilderness. The Israelites were chosen by God for one reason – Jesus. Jesus would come from Israel – from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Ruth, David, and 1000 years after David from David’s granddaughter to the 17th power, Mary betrothed to Joseph who was also of the line of David. Israel wasn’t chosen because they were a superpower among the nations or had the best political system ever developed. They were chosen for Jesus’ sake, so when they complained in the wilderness their Father answered with Jesus.
The Israelites did not pray a nice prayer when they complained to Moses (read 5b). Sort of sounds like kids in the summer – I’m bored. Or kids at the dinner table – I hate peas. How come we never have anything fun for supper? The Israelites had a problem and they bring their problem to the Lord and He answers with Jesus. Their problem was themselves, just as your problem is yourself. If you’re bored with your marriage that’s your sin. If you’re afraid of suffering before you die that’s your unbelief. If you complain because God has allowed our government, schools, and media to become enemies of Christianity and the good gifts of God, that’s on you. God know’s what He’s doing – I don’t know what He’s doing because He didn’t consult me, but He knows. The Israelites weren’t afraid to complain (perhaps they should have been), but they complained and God answered. Complain your heart out – your Father in heaven can take it. After all, He is God. He wouldn’t be much of a father or a god if He couldn’t take the complaints of his children..
The Israelites didn’t pray nice. They also lied in their prayer. They complained about no food and also complained the food was worthless. Well, which is it? Either you had food or you didn’t, but such is the way of children. If their complaints made sense, they would be adults, but before God we are all children.
What did the Israelites want? They wanted to an ice cold Michelob instead of water from a rock. They wanted some deep fried Walleye instead of manna. They wanted a couple nights in the Embassy Suites on the Jordan instead of a sand-filled tent in the wilderness. What did the Lord give them? Jesus.
He gave them death and resurrection. He sent fiery serpents to kill them for their sin. Every serpent taught them the wages of sin. You poison your Father’s name to your own death. There’s nothing like death to make you think about your life, your prayers, and your God. Death will improve your prayer life. If you’re dying you’re not going to pray for a Walleye dinner with an ice cold beer – you’re going to pray for life. (read vs. 7)
Moses once again points to Jesus. The people get God’s ear through Moses. You only have God’s ear through Jesus. They weren’t nice to their Father and they lied to their Father – their prayers didn’t deserve God’s attention, but Jesus does. God heard them through Jesus and answered them with Jesus. He did not give them beer instead of water or fish instead of bread. He gave them forgiveness through faith in a snake on a pole. (read vs. 8-9) God gave them His Word and His Word directed them outside of themselves to a sign. If they didn’t believe God’s Word, they died. If they believed Dr. Fauci, who said a Snake on a Pole will never cure snake bites, if they went with the science and CDC, instead of God’s Word then, they died. The serpent on the pole wasn’t merely a serpent on a pole – it was Jesus on the cross. Behind the serpent hung Jesus. (read John 3:14-15)
Pray. Complain. Your prayers don’t need to be nice or perfectly worded. The Israelites lied and so do you. God will hear and God will answer, but be warned. Your Father will always answer with Jesus and if He needs to kill you to give you Jesus, so be it, because that’s how much He loves you. Pray with confidence and boldness. You can ask your Father for anything and He will answer in the name of Jesus. Amen.