God hates complaining! Why? Because the person who complains is focused on earthly things instead of on spiritual things. At least, that’s what God was trying to teach the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings.

In Numbers 21 the people grumbled about the leadership, the slow speed of progress and the food. Isn’t that interesting—the same things people often complain about today! We don’t like to wait. The people in charge could always do better, and then there’s always something negative to say about the food.

I teach parents how to help their children thrive. One of the challenges children sometimes face is complaining. I like to tell them that complaining focuses on the problem. It’s earthly. In fact, Philippians 2:14 links complaining and arguing to a worldly generation. People who are worldly complain. It’s because they have their heads down. They are consumed with earthly things.

Verse 15 though shows the contrast and teaches one of the principles that helps us flourish in life. In contrast to complainers, Paul says, “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”

One of ways that you can test your daily spirituality is to measure your complaining index.

If you’re focusing on earthly things, then it’s time to look up. Be like a star that shines in the sky. When the Israelites complained, God sent poisonous snakes that actually increased their pain. And when they cried out to Moses to ask God for help, God had him build a bronze snake and put it on a pole. People would have to look up for healing.

The same is true today. People who complain often end up with more pain, much of it self-inflicted, and the solution is to look up to God’s solution.

He provides answers to the daily challenges we face. He wants us looking up to His grace and mercy. Those who look up see things differently. They experience God in ways that others don’t.

I’m sure there were some Israelites who didn’t look up, and many of them died. “I don’t believe in the snake. It can’t help me. My problems are too bad.” It’s a choice that we each make. It’s a matter of focus. In fact, it’s a way of life.

Jesus tried to explain this same principle to Nicodemus in John 3, but Nick had a hard time catching the idea of the physical vs. the spiritual. Jesus described it as being born again, an entrance into a new life that changes a person’s viewpoint.

Jesus said, “I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” Nicodemus was stuck on the earthly. He needed to get his eyes on the heavenly. God wanted to do something significant in his life. He wanted to breathe into him the Spirit of God.

So, to help Nicodemus get the picture, Jesus talks about the Israelites and the snakes. He says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” Certainly Nicodemus knew that story. After all, he was a Pharisee. He was trained in the Old Testament. And Jesus wanted to remind this teacher of the law that he needed to make a personal choice in his own life to look up and choose God’s solution.

Unfortunately, our world is full of complainers.

You listen to people on their phones complaining about other people, the weather or how they were treated. You hear business people complain about flights, bosses and competitors. Even in families, you hear children and parents complain about decisions, choices and all kinds of life situations.

If complaining is so bad, why is it so common? It’s because people have a tendency to contemplate temporal things. There’s a whole different way to think. It starts with salvation, looking up to the cross. And then it means continually appreciating God’s grace, being thankful for what we have and choosing to express that gratefulness in encouraging ways around us.

God wants us to shine like stars in the sky, and one of the ways we can do that is to encourage others and avoid complaining. In a world where negativity reigns, we stand out. We’re different. We’re Christians who, by the very name, have our eyes and hearts focused in a heavenly direction.

In My Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:2

You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
Ephesians 2:19

Because we are His children, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:6

We began in despair, but we began nonetheless. Then immediately we saw obstacles, mountains, and realized in order to reach the summit of our relationship with God and maturity in our walk with one another, we would need help. God’s help. What a relief to discover that the One who called us would also carry us through.

Our next song reveals perhaps the most reassuring truth of all. Read Psalm 122 slowly. Savor the words of your brother, and fellow hiker, David.

You cannot read this psalm without realizing that David had a love affair with Jerusalem. Actually, it’s more than the city that he loved, although there’s much there to admire. Strategic geography. Dramatic valleys, hills, and those mountains.

Of course, speaking of mountains, the focal point of Jerusalem is that hill that would become the Temple Mount. You could say it was the Tabernacle Mount during David’s day. He oversaw the reconstruction of that temporary dwelling, that “mobile home” God chose to use as His house for many years. It actually may be that tabernacle David refers to in Psalm 27 when he says there’s “one thing” he desires and passionately pursues. David’s true focus was not the city, but the sanctuary. He wanted to “dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of his life.” (Psalm 27:4)

In Psalm 23 the good king extends his expectation, declaring, “I will dwell in the house of the LORD FOREVER.” (Psalm 23:6) We can assume that David may have visited this place of worship often, but he never actually lived in the Tabernacle, unlike the elderly widow, Anna, from Luke 2, who indeed took up residence in the temple for many years.

When I read Psalm 122, my attention is captured by the first line of this tremendous song: I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1) Yes, the tribes gather there and the judges’ seats are found there. But there is something far more appealing to David about this location. He sees more than a city. He sees a “house”—the House of Yahweh.

No wonder then that David here is found calling out for the peace of Jerusalem three times. This is God’s “hometown” on earth. Jerusalem, this notoriously embattled city, is the place where God lives and meets with those who worship Him.

Understandably, then, that David got so excited. He understood the implications of the invitation when a friend, family member, or fellow worshiper said, “Hey David, let’s go to God’s House.” House? Yes, House. God’s house is His home, and this “man after God’s own heart” was driven to be truly at home with God.

For us, the thought of being invited into God’s house is profound. I’ve been invited to Billy Graham Crusades, but never to Billy and Ruth’s home. I’ve met a few famous preachers and celebrities, but none jotted down their home address and said, “Drop by anytime.” Yet God invites me to His HOME? That’s just overwhelming.

God is not inviting us into His factory, corporate headquarters, or field office. We are beckoned to His “house.”

God is not inviting us into His factory, corporate headquarters, or field office. We are beckoned to His “house.” Not for a brief visit. We all have this “homing device” in us. We long for the home and family God Himself promises. This is the call to “Come Home.”

We are more than God’s employees, staff or business partners. God does not invite us into His multi-level corporation. He welcomes us into His family. No longer orphans, we are now His dear children through faith in Jesus Christ. No longer strangers or refugees, we are now His family. He is more than our boss, He is our Father—the Father we have been looking for all our lives.

Did we understand that when we were urged to open our hearts to receive Jesus Christ? I didn’t. I only knew I wanted forgiveness. I wanted the shame and weight of my sin lifted. It was years later that I would dare to believe this truth, that God had made room for me in His House.

I can’t describe the comfort this provides me, or the strength it instills in me to continue through the many discouraging phases of life here as I hike toward home.

You see, weary travelers will press on with undying stamina on their arduous journey, knowing that at the end of the road, there is a house, a home, a family, living under the shelter and within the protection of the perfect Father.

We move forward knowing we will not only be tolerated when we reach the door of that place He has prepared, but we will be welcomed, because it is indeed our home.

Let’s keep our eyes fixed on that House in the distance and stir our hearts with the joyful reminder that we are one day closer to home than we were yesterday.

And when we arrive, we will not need to knock on the grand door and wait for the butler to answer. We will not stand anxiously as security guards check our credentials. The master of the mansion will Himself welcome His sons and daughters to the place He has prepared for us. We will enter boldly, confidently and with great awe into this House of the LORD, and there before His throne of grace find ourselves at last, at home, as we cry out “Abba, Father.”