Prayer can be a form of worry. You read that right—prayer can become a type of worry, and worry is sin. Rehashing problems to God over and over isn’t praying; it’s complaining. And complaining? Scripture never paints it in a positive light.
Take the Israelites. They grumbled against Moses, essentially accusing him of dragging them out of Egypt to die of thirst (Exodus 17:3; Numbers 14:2). They whined about his leadership constantly. It all came to a head when God laid down the hammer: “Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me” (Numbers 14:29). Complaining, it turns out, has serious consequences.
Here’s the hard truth: all complaining is ultimately aimed at God. Everything that happens is either permitted or planned by Him. Look at Job. Satan triggered the attack, but God allowed it, setting strict boundaries—the devil couldn’t take Job’s life. Yet through all his trials, Job refused to curse God or lash out foolishly. Anyone can praise God when He gives, but Job praised Him when He took away. He said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Isn’t that astonishing? I think so!
So why is complaining so common, both in the Bible and today? It’s because of blindness. It is what I call “blessing blindness.” We get so consumed by our troubles that we miss the good things. Anxiety, fear, hopelessness, grief, and doubt are giants that loom large, obscuring our blessings. These struggles are real, but we can’t let them block out the benefits God has given us. Are you ever more fixated on your problems than your blessings? Most of us can relate. Like Job, we need to look past the immediate crisis to see God’s goodness. Even in tough seasons, there are reasons to praise.
To be clear, there’s a place for honesty in prayer—telling God about our dismay, discouragement, or disappointment. But endlessly rehashing the same complaints isn’t healthy or helpful. You can pray yourself into a pit of depression by dwelling on life’s sour spots. So, maybe it’s time to rethink how we pray.
Instead of using prayer to air grievances, shift your focus:
- Embrace praise and thanksgiving. Biblical prayer thrives on extravagant praise.
- Choose gratitude, even when it’s hard. Giving thanks builds a bridge to gratitude. You don’t need to feel grateful to start thanking God—acknowledge your blessings, and the feelings often follow. You’ll always get closer to acting your way into feeling than feeling your way into acting.
- Praise God for who He is and what He does. Psalm 150:2 says, “Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.” Celebrate His character and His deeds.
To conclude, we must move from worry to worship. Prayer should lift us up, not drag us down. When we shift from rehearsing complaints to offering praise, we align our hearts with God’s goodness. By focusing on gratitude and His mighty acts, we break free from blessing blindness and find joy even in hard seasons. Let’s pray like Job—blessing God’s name, no matter what comes or goes. Start today: trade worry for worship, and watch how it transforms your perspective.
Harold Vaughan
