Grumbling on a Shuttle Bus

by David Block

I pulled up in front of the hospital eager to start my first run of the day. I was looking forward to a nice slow Friday evening, free from headaches and complications. As the hospital's shuttle driver, it is my responsibility to transport our guests back and forth from there hotel to the cancer center according to the schedule. This day started like any other day, but little did I know that God had a lesson scheduled for me.

I stepped off the bus and strolled into the hospital lobby. I checked in with the volunteer at the front desk to see if there was anyone waiting to go with me on my first trip of the day. She assured me that no one had talked to her about going, so I made my way to the door. As I looked through the glass of the door, I saw a husband and wife slowly climbing the steps of the bus. I jumped into the driver's seat and turned around to ask the couple where they were going. To my agitation they said that they needed to go to a hotel that was off my scheduled route. I politely explained to them that according to my schedule I would not be going to their hotel but that they were welcome to ride around until I went there on my next run. I could tell by the woman's face that this wasn't going to fly with her. “You need to take me there now. I really don't feel well.”

Instantly, I felt my temperature rise. My ears began to burn. “The nerve of this woman,” I thought. “Everyone I pick up doesn't feel well, were a cancer hospital. Uhhhaahhh!” I pulled my sleeve back to see what kind of damage this was going to do to my route. I had ten minutes; just enough time to take them and get back on track without messing everything up. I shot back a, “OK, I'll take you,” with a half smile and the nicest tone of voice I could muster.

All the way to the hotel, I grumbled to myself, perplexed by these people's audacity and lack of concern for others. When we finally arrived I quickly opened the door and said goodbye. As the woman got up to leave she put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Thank you so much for going off your schedule for me. I'm in a lot of pain and just couldn't stand waiting anymore. This was such a Christian thing to do.”

Ouch! God pierced my soul with her last sentence. What might have been a good deed was tainted by my sin of unwarranted anger. Ecclesiastes 7:9 (ESV) says, “Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” This is exactly what I did. I was quick to anger instead of making the most of the situation. I was a fool to allow that anger to fester and turn in my chest. I should have just let it go, but I didn't. The anger that I had, I allowed to develop into the sin of grumbling.

Grumbling is a sin that seems to go untouched in our world today, perhaps because everyone does it openly. Yet grumbling or complaining is specifically warned against in the Bible. “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” (Philippians 2:14-15 NKJV). This is a tall order for our postmodern times. If the world teaches us anything about grumbling is that it's your human right, even honor to complain about anything and everything. The temptation to grumble against God's commands and promises is all around us.

When we are tempted to grumble against God we ought to remember the story of Korah and his followers. In Numbers 15 and 16 we find that God called the tribe of the Levites to serve as priests in his tabernacle. Korah and his followers didn't like this too much and complained against Moses, Aaron and God. Because of all of their complaining, Moses, instead of agreeing with them, complained to God about their evil. God answered Moses' complaint and opened the earth to swallow Korah, Dathan, Abriam and their households. Some of the other complainers were consumed by fire from the Lord. Even more people died from a plague. As a result of their murmuring over 15,000 people died that day.

This swift, exacting and just punishment happened to these people so that when we want to act like Korah we'll remember what happened to him. 1 Corinthians 10:9-11 says, “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come,” (ESV). These people's unique death happened as a visual demonstration to us. There can be no mistaking after reading this story, that God does not tolerate people complaining against him. Grumbling against God is a sin.

If we allow our anger, though righteous it may be, to abide in our hearts it will eventually develop into sin i.e. grumbling. This is what happened to me. If I would have remembered the story of Korah at the time, I might have dealt with my anger in a right and holy way. However, I allowed it to burn inside of me which caused me to grumble against one of “the least of these.” Anger, in itself, is not evil but the power it wields can easily cause us to sin if we have not guarded are hearts with the word of God. “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires,” (James 1:20 ESV). May God help us and be merciful to us as we learn to be slow to anger.