Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah because fire from the Lord had burned among them.

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. (New International Version)

Some complaints are a form of lamenting a significant loss and expressing grief. That’s normal, even healthy, and to be expected. Many other complaints come in the form of grumbling, murmuring, and just plain old selfish bellyaching.

The latter type of complaining is clearly what was happening with the ancient Israelites. They were delivered from Egyptian slavery and now free. The people ought to be celebrating. But instead, the minute things are hard, they grumble. When the God-given food became commonplace and too plain for their pallets, the people whined and complained.

And it was the rabble rousers among them who got the whole community up in arms and grumbling.

The Apostle Paul understood that negative people only create more negative people – which is why he offered the church leader Titus some counsel about how to handle such persons: 

After a first and second warning, have nothing more to do with a person who causes conflict, because you know that someone like this is twisted and sinful—so they condemn themselves. (Titus 3:10-11, CEB)

Whenever a passion for power and control prevails over a desire for the common good of all people, then we have an issue of character. Stirring up antagonism against biblically-oriented, Spirit-directed change is demonic – and the real test of it is a constant stream of negativism which is secretive, remains in the shadows, relies on gossip and slander for its fuel, and hates being in the light.

Jesus said to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves because there are wolves among the sheep (Matthew 10:16). You will know them by their fruit. We are called not to participate in negative influences!  Individuals must be called-out for their chronic negative spirits. So, how do we do it?  How do we shut-out the negative?

Refuse it

Name it. Call it what it is: fighting against the Holy Spirit and attributing evil to the work of God (Matthew 12:30-32). When someone comes to you and wants to dish up a little “sumthin’-sumthin’” on somebody or something, refuse to take the bait. Refuse it and reject it.

Keep a group of friends who are positive, encouraging, helpful, and steer clear of antagonistic attitudes. It is extremely beneficial to both physical and spiritual health. In a study at Stanford University, a pair of researchers reviewed over 200 studies on group therapy and concluded that group members “develop close bonds with the other members and are deeply influenced by their positive acceptance and feedback.” In other words, negative thinking keeps people in bondage, whereas positive encouragement of others brings freedom and life.

Rebuke it

Someone might be speaking to you, start talking around some issue slowly, but eventually comes around to carving up another person like a Thanksgiving turkey. What do you do? Rebuke it. We can say something like, “When you continue to speak with such negativity about ______ I feel upset because I need to be in a place which helps me to spiritually grow. Will you please stop being so negative?”

I once had a person come to me not knowing how to deal with a negative person. I walked him through some biblical ways about confronting the negativity when it comes. He simply hung his head and said he could not do that. But he was miserable, which is why he came and talked to me. And he walked away with that same misery because he was not willing to call out a person on their destructive negativity.

You and I are in control of our own happiness. If another person causes us anger; if some politician drives us nuts; if a television program or radio show is upsetting me; then, it is our responsibility to keep away.

If we have a chronic negative person in our life, and have tried to deal with that person, and they refuse to listen, we can say something like this when they start their rant: “I don’t want to hear it. And if you keep bringing it up and being negative, I will walk out of the room.” The principle here is that we control our own behavior, not somebody else’s.

Redirect it

Satan is the author of negative antagonism. He talked trash about God in the garden to Adam and Eve. So, avoid getting caught up in trying to dialogue with a negative person. Redirect the negativity by calling the person to change their ways, because truth be told, the negativity is really rebellion against God.

If you are wondering, “I could never do that” then you likely have been telling yourself a lot of negative thoughts. God calls us to stamp-out the negativity before it can get started, even within our own brains. In some cases, we need to re-train our minds to focus on the positive, and not the negative.

It takes two to tango. Negativity cannot survive if there is no one to listen to it. We must stop being negative and stop listening to negative people; constant complaining creates divisions and scandals.

If there are people who chronically have negative speech and can never seem to say anything good about someone or something, then stay away from them. Have nothing to do with them. Do not participate in the divisive speech. Refuse it. Rebuke it. Redirect it.

God wants us righteous and robust, holy, and happy – not walking around like a grump who was baptized in pickle juice.

We can choose to fill our minds with gracious good news; pray positively about everything; and find the positive in all things. We can continually choose to cultivate unity, purity, peace, and love. That’s how we enjoy life together.

May it be so, to the glory of God.