Many memes that are meant to be pithy, and maybe even inspirational, end up ignoring biblical theology in their efforts to make a point. I often refer to such statements as "bumper sticker theology." My Facebook friend Tony Belarmino calls the "Christian clichés and Pentecostal platitudes." They're those soundbites that are very tweetable or memorable, but because they're so brief (to make them easy to remember and repeat), they frequently are very surface-level, and end up failing to go deep enough to really get at the truth contained in Scripture.
One example is something I saw posted the other day quoting California megachurch pastor Bill Johnson:
The obvious implication here is that if you voice a complaint, then you're inviting Satan in.
It is certainly true that many times—especially during Israel's wandering in the wilderness—God takes them to task for complaining against Him and the leadership He had put in charge of guiding His people. Complaining for the sake of complaining, or getting one's own way, is definitely wrong, because it's manipulative, using the logic of the old adage that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."
However, there are many examples in the Bible of complaints that God viewed as either valid, or at the very least, not evil.
Job talks about wanting to bring his complaint before the Creator. Yet Job 2:10 says, "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said." In chapter 38-41, God does take Job to task for speaking out of ignorance in many respects, but He does not fault Job for complaining as such. Job 42:7 says:
After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.
Even after somewhat reprimanding Job for speaking beyond what his knowledge justified him saying, God says that Job has spoken the truth about Him. So implying that Satan somehow inhabited Job's complaints is not supported by Scripture. In fact, such an implication contradicts the biblical witness.
Psalm 64:1 and Psalm 142:2 both talk about bringing our complaints before the God who listens. How can the devil inhabit something the Psalms encourage us to present before the One who can do something about it?
Sections of Jeremiah and Habakkuk, while not having the exact word "complain" or "complaint" in the biblical text, do have section headings labeled "Jeremiah's Complaint" and "Habakkuk's Complaint," where the text does give the words of the actual complaints these Spirit-inspired prophets of God brought before the Lord.
Acts 6:1 tells of how, in the early Jerusalem church, the Greek-speaking Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews when the Hellenistic widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Did the Apostles rebuke the Greek-speaking Jewish believers, telling them that Satan was inhabiting their complaints? Not at all! It was a legitimate complaint that needed to be addressed, and the leadership appointed deacons to oversee equitable distribution of necessities.
So, while a persistent attitude and habit of complaining is certainly not to be desired or practiced, there are legitimate forms of complaint. To make a blanket statement implying that any complaining is inhabited by Satan or his minions is theologically and pastorally irresponsible. It could even be seen as a manipulative technique by a pastor to keep congregants from voicing their concerns so he doesn't have to actually deal with the tough questions.
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