Grievance Committee
I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. Psalm 142:2 NASB
Complaint – An unfortunate translation. “Complaint” makes it seem that David is whining before God, voicing his grievance. We all do this, so maybe a translation of shiah as “complaint” simply demonstrates our experience. But I suspect David is employing the full range of the Hebrew shiah instead of one slice of the pie. Shiah can mean “meditation, prayer, thought, mental investigation, reflection, communication, babbling” and “complaint.” As you can see, the word covers a lot of ground. Most interesting is the connection between complaint and meditation. The same Hebrew word for both actions requires us to think deeply about David’s poetic expression. Is David saying, “I pour out my well-considered, meditated-upon, reflected, prayerful complaint” or is he just voicing a grievance? I’m guessing David didn’t choose this word by accident. I’m guessing he wants his readers to know that complaints need to be voiced after mediation, investigation and consideration, and then poured out like prayer. I wonder how we would change our complaining before God if we knew the full range of shiah.
One of the reasons I think David has this much larger umbrella of meanings in mind is found in the preceding verb, ‘eshpok, “I pour out.” The root is shapak. While the verb has profane uses (pouring out water), it is also associated with pouring out God’s wrath, pouring out blood in the sacrifices, being empty before the Lord, consecration and, importantly, pouring out His spirit on all flesh. To pour out shiah might be airing a gripe, but I’m just guessing that in the context of shapak there is an element of ritual and the character of God woven into this fabric. If that’s the case, aren’t we asked to think of our grievances from God’s point-of-view? Maybe there would be a lot less ego pouring if we started with pouring out at the altar.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying there is no room for complaint. God listens. He encourages us to come before Him with our troubles and concerns. He can take some fist-shaking and demands. But maybe complaints after all the other nuances of these words will look a bit different. Maybe God doesn’t actually have a suggestion box. Maybe He really is the sovereign King of the universe. Maybe the rabbis are right: “Men plan and God laughs.”
Living in the human world means things go wrong, at least from our perspective. Life isn’t always (or usually) the way we want it to be. Complaining is a natural outcome of ego expectation and we are all well-equipped to justify our grievances. But maybe David is pointing us toward something deeper. Maybe declaring my troubles before the Lord is the first step in recognizing that I am not in charge here.
Topical Index: complaint, shiah, pour out, shapak, grievance, Psalm 142:2
Skip, I had to chuckle. “Maybe declaring my troubles before the Lord is the first step in recognizing that I am not in charge here.” Troubles are the primary way, in my life anyway, that have always been able to show me I am NOT in charge!
I have done more than my share of complaining, all the while knowing that my own concerns are shallow, compared to about 90% of the world’s population.
Nevertheless, one thing that instantly alerts me to the fact that I am not in charge, is when an unexpected blessing appears in my life, my difficult circumstances, when no one even thought of requesting such grace from the LORD. That has happened more times than I can count, and sometimes I have to remember them just to keep hope alive.
Gayle, Yes, what a glorious gift the Heavenly Father throws in so often without us even thinking or asking for such a blessing! Often, it has happened to me during the stillness and quietness of the night ( no hearing-aid for me to hear the noises of even the squirrels running around the top of the roof, or an electrical device turning itself off and on), and recently, I have gone to bed so very tired and burdened with the serious situations of my large family: from three serious car accidents on freeways from CA, to two TX Cities since Jan. 01, 2016-yes, truthfully, all cars were declared by insurance companies “totally destroyed”. Not one of my family drivers were found at fault– and after being checked in ER rooms, not one was seriously/critically injured. Praises for that. Yet without vehicles they can not go to their work– and you cry out to the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind! If I fall asleep, I may awaken with pain usually in my feet and legs from walking, working so much during the day ( I am not overweight either).
BUT; AS I BEGAN TO THANK THE LORD FOR ONE MORE NIGHT AND ALL THE BLESSINGS I HAVE FROM ALL OF OUR CHILDREN, GRANDS, AND NOW TEN GREATS, AND OF HIS PROTECTION THROUGH out all these almost 83 years–suddenly almost always, I realize that I am not in ANY PAIN AT ALL! And I am so thankful to Yhvh! So I am up and slowly prepare for the work of the day! WELL, I AM ABOUT TO LEARN NOT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MUCH–JUST NOW WITH OUR COUNTRY AND ELECTION TIME; PLUS THE WORLD’S NEEDS; I AM PLEADING WITH THE LORD OVER ALL OF THIS CRAZINESS–
LaVaye, I am glad to see your comments. I will pray that your family’s transportation issues will be resolved in short order, and without undue financial burdens. Grateful that you are not in pain, because Spring is on the way. I am so looking forward to the beauty of the earth, bringing forth plants!
My father was not a fan of whining or complaining, to say the least. His response started at derision and that was the best it got. He did, however, strongly and emphatically encourage, almost demand, me to bring him my ideas and meditations as well as whatever challenges I had in putting the plan into action. His advice, encouragement and facilitation was and remains crucial to my success. Point being, I’ve always read this verse in that light.
Larry: Thank you for sharing that what Solomon or the translators forgot to include as a wise way to comfort and empower those with less life wisdom.
Gayle and Larry, my life has been a wonderful reflection of what you are both saying. With Gayle it so often looked like serendipity yet I believe it was much more than that. By comparison to Larry, my father was totally non-communicative and yet he made ONE decision without any discussion with me that totally changed my life. You figure it out. I have.
George K., I do not recall reading any of your comments of the past, BUT this one baffles me: the question you throw out to Gayle, and Larry about your father. It is late and I am tired, so I have no past clues to figure out your statement: please give a big fat clue or the answer to your own question. What was his decision that totally changed your life? –thanks for the reply. LaVaye Billings
Hi LaVaye, the destruction of your families lives is enough to make me want to scream, WHY LaVaye God and not me? When I was young I was unfocussed, no direction, no self discipline. Always lived on the edge. Joined the military on my 18th birthday for officer training and dropped out less than a year later. Went to university and was dropping out in less than two years. Just wanted to be self employed like my father but had no idea how to get there. My father was starting a new venture in England in 1964 that required a considerable amount of money. Two established businessmen who were hired to be general manager both decided not to leave their employers. My father asked me if I would help him set up the business. WOW! He spoke to me! I jumped at the opportunity. In less than 6 weeks we had the manufacturing business going full blast and he asked me if I wanted to stay and run it. Duh? He returned to Canada a couple of weeks later. His partner predicted to him that I would fail. I didn’t.
I met my wife Penny of nearly 50 years now working across the street from my business. We were Sunday morning Christians with 3 children. 17 years later my father asked me if I would return to Canada to run his business. We did and my relationship with him was now totally different. We could actually talk to each other for the first time ever. We lived across the street from our church and our Christian lives became totally different, active, meaningful, involved due to a quirk of circumstances. Same for volunteer and charitable organizations.
All our children are happily married with homes, good jobs and 5 grandchildren. I have no “right” to such good fortune but it is there nonetheless. Four years ago I was searching for a more meaningful God the Father relationship. A few months later we met Skip and Roseanne on board a cruise ship where they did a daily presentation and I found what I was looking for on TW. Like Gayle says, unexpected blessings appear in our lives and I believe they have been directed.
I know your husband died not too long ago. You and your family are in our prayers as you go through your trials. I enjoy reading your posts. Shalom.
George K., Your response goes very deep into my inner being, Thank you so much for feeling and writing so beautifully of your concern and prayers for me and our family– the loss of cars
The Lord is working out in me/us,, what we need to learn from all this. It is very hard for any of us to let go of our own thoughts and ways. One thing for sure that I can say, if we hold on to “what we think we know from our own culture and professional lives” we would miss what God wants to have us learn from His Ways. Yes, they are far higher than ours! As He knows what the end will be; we do not, and we would never be ready to leave this world if we went aimlessly about like a small child. But each and everyone of us will leave this world at some point. AND we do want to be ready to do so and enter into the world coming.
Also, the material written above on my question about what your father taught you. A wonderful blessed testimony of a Father’s true love for a son. Perhaps not the father with greatest communications skills; but in the end one with the greatest wisdom in helping his son make the most of his life: Work ethics, skills, choosing a mate, the stick to it by his son, family jobs, loving his entire family, and THE HEAVENLY FATHER, CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE AND ALL ELSE. WHAT A BLESSING YOU MUST BE TO HIM. AND HE COULD BE A FATHER THAT MAY NOT EVEN BE ABLE TO SPEAK those things to you. But you and all who know will know it is true.
I never doubted that my own uneducated b. 1901 father and my mother loved me. We were always poor, all the wars of the those years, The Great Depression, and Dust Bowl, all created much poverty in TX for great numbers of families. We never failed to have food raised, canned, or whatever, a roof over a house of some type. Not much heat through the cold winters and drafty houses, but blankets warmed around the belly stove with coal, and then around each one of us, and carried by father and tucked into bed. We were always at school, and the Church. And we were read to, had help with homework from school. Trained to be clean in such dire circumstances, and with manners to all. It is good for me to write this, as I recall the pictures of those long ago and forgotten times. So thanks to all who make it possible for us to write these remembrances. May we continue to give thanks to our Mighty God! And honor HIS many Names! LaVaye Billings
I’m over it. I want my privacy back. And stay out of my life is what i had to tell somebody today. Should I take this grievance to YHVH?