The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Moaning and Groaning in Lent

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Do you find yourself complaining often? Jeff connects the Israelites' 40 years in the wilderness, filled with complaints against Moses, God, and their circumstances, with our own potential for complaint during the 40 days of Lent. Jeff encourages us to transform complaints into moments of trust and gratitude. Snippet from the Show Am I a complainer looking for a problem, or am I a disciple helping Jesus solve problems? Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 422, moaning and groaning in Lent. Welcome to the show again this week, my friend. Right off the top of the show, I want to thank you so much for all of the outpouring of love and the texts and the emails and just the wonderful show of support for my family. We lost our mother on March 1st and still continued to get messages from you and all the rosaries that are being said and all of the masses being said. It's really incredible.

It's hundreds of them. And so many rosaries, so many prayers, we really appreciate it. We really do. It's times like this that you really do come into contact with the body of Christ and the love of Christ flowing through the body, not only through the process of losing a loved one with last rights and apostolic pardon and just the support from your local parish, but also the church worldwide. And we're blessed to have so many friends like you. So I appreciate that very, very much. Well, we're in the middle of Lent right now and I like to hit the topic. that we try to address during Lent.

And as you know, Lent is that 40-day period where we are anticipating the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and we ourselves find ourselves in this 40-day journey. Of course, throughout salvation history, the number 40 was always important because it typically represented some kind of ordeal or some kind of challenge for the people of God.

And so we have going all the way back to Noah with the rain 40 days and 40 nights. We have Elijah. He had a period of 40 days and so many others. We had children of Israel. Of course, they moaned and complained that they couldn't take the land up in the land of Canaan and they spied out the land. One from each tribe for 40 days, didn't trust God. Ten of them said there's no way we can take the land and two of them said we can. That was Joshua and Caleb. Well, the ten outvoted the two, sort of speak. And, they ended up with one year for every day that they were spying out the land. So you got it.

That's 40 years in the wilderness. And man, where they tried in the wilderness. And they, you know, when you look at Exodus chapter 5 all the way through numbers 21, you will see a lot of moaning, a lot of complaining in the wilderness. And so I'm thinking to myself, what better topic to talk about in a 40-day trial? than what Israel struggled with in their 40-year trial, and that is continuously moaning and complaining. Now, I'm going to surprise you as we go through Exodus 5 through Numbers 21 today,

because I'm going to show you the 14 times that they complained in the wilderness, and we're going to break it down and look at what kinds of things they complained about. Then I'm going to challenge you to think about your life and your experience during Lent and ask yourself, are you complaining about these things in your life right now? And is God trying to do something in your life? You know, Lent is more than just giving up burgers or giving up beer or wine or something like that and just making your way all the way through to Easter where you can have that glass of wine again or you can have that chocolate.

God wants to do a work in your heart during this period of time. And that can only happen when we submit ourselves to him. And sometimes I think Lent just flies. by. I know I've experienced that before where it flies by and I'm not aware of the actions of the Holy Spirit, the handiwork of Jesus in my own heart, in my own family. And so I'm with you in this. I'm reminding myself as well. I can be a complainer. Now in Lent, one of the readings during Lent is the prodigal son. And I love that. Luke chapter 15 specifically versus 1 through 3. I'll put this in the show notes for you, and then verses 11 through 32.

By the way, speaking of the notes, if you do want the show notes, all you've got to do is send me a text. Text my name, Jeff Kaven's one word, and text it to the number 3377. And we'll get you all the notes. And I do have plenty of good ones today. I'm sure you're going to want to take advantage of them. Well, as I was saying, we have here now in Lent, the prodigal son, it's coming up, and I'm preparing you for. and, of course, the story of the prodigal son comes on the heels of the tax collectors and the sinners drawing near to listen to Jesus. But the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, and they started to moan.

Why? Because they said, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Can you imagine? And so when they saw the sinners being welcomed by Jesus and eating with him, it really does. bothered them and they found a lot to complain about a lot to moan about who do you hang out with right well that's what brought on the story of the prodigal son so to them jesus addressed this parable a man had two sons and the younger son said to his father father give me the share of your estate that should come to me so the father divided the property between them and after a few days

the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. Now, we all know that story. We've heard it one time or another, but this young man, he's the younger of the two brothers. His older brother seems to be kind of a homeboy that's happy there and just things are going well. But the younger one has to sow the wild oats. He leaves and he sows his wild oats and he squanders every he's freely spent everything during that time on really questionable things and then he finds himself eating the food of the pigs these he's it's down and out for him and then it says he comes to his senses and he thought how many of my father's hired work workers have more than enough to eat but

here i am dying of hunger and so he comes to his senses and then he says i'm going to get up i'm going to go to my father and I shall say to him, Father, I have sinned against you, I've sinned against heaven. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers. So the son goes back, the father meets him, comes running to him, and he breaks out the faddened calf and slaughters it. Now, he also gives him the signet ring. He said, let me find this, but he says, but his father ordered his servants quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, take the fatten calf and slaughter it, and then let us celebrate with a feast. So that's what they did. But the older son comes in from the field on his way back and he hears the sound of music

and dancing. And he called one of the servants and said, hey, what's going on right over here? He says, well, your brother's returned. Didn't you hear your brothers returned? He's back safe and sound. and this is your older brother got angry and he started coming up with some things to complain about like hey i've been faithful all this time and you didn't do all this for me i didn't go off and sew wild oats i stayed here and work you've never fat you know given the fat and calf to me and my friends but my brother he went out and he spent his money on prostitutes and wild living and everything else and the father says to him he says my son you are here with me always everything i have is yours, but now we must celebrate and rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life

again. He was lost and has been found. So you can see the story developing there where the younger son is lavished by his father's love and provisions. And the older son seems to have missed this all along and was not aware of the generosity of his father. But it was, nevertheless, it was there all along. And he didn't take advantage of it. He didn't. didn't grasp that and really bring it to himself. And so the love for the younger son and the provision for the younger son caused the older son to complain and moan. Complain and moan. Isn't that what people do? Yeah. And during Lent, it seems to be turned up a notch during Lent. You know, one of the things I have noticed, I'm just bringing this up here, is that the internet

has really become, in many ways, a podium of complaining. It is a platform on which people can complain and moan about so many things in life. Our news networks are that way now. I mean, if you look at cable news, it's just complaining after complaining after complaining. And it seems that today, even very young people can be provided a platform, simply have to give up an email and a password, and suddenly they are experts, you know, they are influencers, and they find things to complain about. It's become quite a habit for many, many people, but I don't think it's really a good habit, actually, and particularly when it comes to the faith and the leadership of the church. Listen, if we spend our time complaining about the leadership, which is one of the

things we're going to see in Exodus 5 through 21 is that they complained about God and Moses in that 40-year period. But if we're just going to complain about the leadership of the church and we're going to complain about faith or the state of the faith, we're going to miss our opportunity to make a change in the world. I have found typically the complainers are not really searching for a solution. They're searching for problems. And there is this self-deception that takes place and James talks about it. That self-deception is like if you study the faith, Bible catechism, listen to CDs, watch Catholic television radio, go to conferences. If you're involved in consuming the faith, you must be doing the faith. Well, that's not necessarily true,

and that can be an exercise in self-deception. And the same thing happens in complaining about issues on the internet if your whole show is about complaining about issues on the internet well the illusion is is that you're doing something about it when in fact you're not the great catholic historian christopher dawson once said you can give men food and leisure and amusements and good conditions of work and still they will remain unsatisfied but listen to this you can deny them all these things and they will not complain as long as they feel they have something to die for. Is that what's lacking? Is that people really don't have anything anymore to die for?

All their needs are met. All their comforts are there readily available. No struggles, really. Nothing to die for. Everything to complain about. I wonder about that. And I would think about that myself. I would encourage you to think about that in your life as well.

Do you live your life as though there is something to die for? Listen, if there's nothing to die for, then I would argue there might not be anything to live for. But there is something to die for, and that is the faith. That is the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, His kingdom. And we're called to become activated disciples and do something about it rather than just complaining. And of course, in the 40 days of Lent, what better time? then now to complain, right? Oh, wow. Wow, we're in the middle of the 40 days of Lent,

big reminder, complain period for a lot of people and God's trying to do something in your life. Well, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take a break when I come back. What we're going to do is I'm going to introduce you to the 40 years in the wilderness in Exodus 5 to 21. You could call this the longest lent in the history of the world, the longest lent. And of course, the end of that 40-year period, everybody who was 19 and younger when Exodus 32 took place and all the way up to the beginnings of numbers when they sent the spies up into the land, all those people are going to go into the promised land. But everybody that was in the wilderness and complained and didn't trust God,

ages 20 and up, they died in the wilderness. So let's take a break. When we come back, let's take a look at what kind of complaining they did. listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name is Father Josh Johnson. And I want to invite you to join me this Lent for set free. A series of daily video reflections based on my new book, The Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins.

Starting March 5th in the Ascension app, we're focused on getting to the roots of the sins we struggle with in our day-to-day lives, all of which stem from the seven deadly sins of wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, greed, envy, and pride. And the gospel of Jesus says, when you pray. But he also says

when you fast. Most people know that Catholics fast during Lent, but what they may not know is that fasting is a powerful tool to defeat sin. As we learn more and more about each one of the seven deadly sins, we'll explore small fast and practical ways to grow in the opposite virtues so that we can root out and eliminate each one at its source.

You can learn more and download the free Lent action plan by visiting ascensionpress.com. slash Father Josh and Lent to join, download, and subscribe to the Ascension app today. Welcome back talking today about moaning and groaning in Lent. Not that you do it, of course. And of course, we do these shows for all of those other people. And you and I are an agreement on that, right? No, it's for you, it's for me.

It's for all of us. And I don't think anybody is really immune from moaning and groaning and complaining. Of course, we call it critiquing and using wisdom, walking by wisdom. There's a lot of ways that we can color moaning and groaning. We must moan and groan about some things, don't you know, Jeff. Oh, I don't find that in the Bible, actually. Okay, so let's do this. I have put together a list, and I'm going to give it to you in the show notes.

Give you a list of Israel's complaints while in the wilderness from Exodus 5 through Numbers 21. now there are 14 times when they complain and that's all we know of i mean there probably was a lot more complaining going on but it wasn't recorded 14 of them were and these complaints in this moaning in the wilderness aka lent centered around oh i'd say three things one was provisions you know your house your food your water all of that and then the second major category of complaints and moaning in 40 years of Lent is leadership. Leadership. That, of course, you know who that is. That's Moses. It's so easy to put the blame on the leaders, isn't it? And then the third category is unfulfilled expectations of God.

God isn't the God I thought he was going to be. Why did he bring us out here? How come he is making this such a long trek? Why can't we eat the food we used to have? And go out to the night, club the way we used to back in Egypt. So let's take a look at this. Okay. Now let me give them to you right now and then we'll go through. Moses leadership. They complained about Moses leadership from Exodus 5 to numbers 21. They complained about Moses leadership. That was the first complaint, the second complaint, the eighth complaint, the 10th complaint, the 11th, 12th, and 13th. All of that was complaining about Moses. Wow. Now, if we were paying, attention to our own heart during Lent, I would dare ask you. How many times during Lent do you

complain about leadership? Look, I'm not accusing you. I'm just asking questions here. Number two, they complained about water. That's complaint number three and five. And then they complained about food. That's complaint four and seven. That leaves three more complaints. And you know who got that God. They complained about God. They complained about God. And that's complaint six. nine and fourteen so let's go through them real quick here and as i do just think about it for a moment and kind of ask yourself where are you at in this lent right now as far as moaning and complaining in lent so let's go number one moses that was moses and the people complained of moses that because of him pharaoh made things worse for them that was back in exodus five one through

22. The second complaint, guess who that was against, Moses again, the people complained about their situation and said, Moses, let us alone. That's Exodus 14, 11, and 12. The third complaint, we're going to change the channel here now. We're going to move from Moses to water. We're going to complain about water. So the people complained about the bitter water in Exodus 15, 22, and 23. And now number four, we're going to switch the channel again. We're going to complain about food. The fourth complaint in Exodus 16, 1 through 4. And they were complaining that they were hungry, and God gave them the manna.

So I found some things to complain about with not only water, but food as well. And then number five, we're back to water. The people complained about being thirsty again in Exodus 17. You know, when I think about that, I'm reminded of that great quote with St. Augustine, God thirsts that we would thirst for him. All right. Let's continue to turn the channels here. Number six is God.

There's a new one. God. They're going to complain about God now. The people forsake the Lord and worship the golden calf at Mount Sinai. That's Exodus 32. That's what laicized the country and gave them the Levites as priests. Thanks to their complaining. Now, number seven would be in the category of food again.

says numbers chapter 11 one through four now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving for food for meat and the people of israel also wept again and said oh that we had meat to eat they were managerians i guess you would call them at that point you know the eaten manna all the time they they didn't like that they wanted to eat meat number eight oh we're back to moses complaining about Moses, Miriam and Aaron complained about Moses' leadership in Numbers Chapter 12, 1 through 12. Again, these are going to be in the show notes for you, but please don't write this down when you're driving. No need to stop jogging or barbecue or whatever.

I'll give you these. Number nine, okay, we're back to the channel called God. You're complaining about God again in numbers 14, 1 through 10. Here are the people complained about how difficult it looked to conquer the giants in Canaan. So they refused to enter the promised land. Wow, that one is the one that cost him 40 years. Number 10. Oh, we're back to Moses.

Can you believe it? The people continued to complain and wanted to kill Moses and find a new leader. Numbers 1410. Complaint number 11. Guess what? Guess who? Moses. They complained against Moses again.

The leaders rebel against him this time in number 16. Number 12. Moses. The people complained again believing that Moses was trying to. to kill God's people. Wow, it's getting serious. This is becoming headline stuff. Numbers chapter 16, verse 41. Number 13, we only have two more to go. Number 13. Ditto, diddo. Moses, they complain against Moses about water again. This time, it's a double whammy, isn't it? You got Moses and water in one. That's numbers 20 versus one through five. And then numbers 21, we got the 14th

complain and moan against God. People complained against God and Moses. Well, there's another double, daily double. They complained against God and Moses at the same time, resulting in the fiery serpent, which is used when we talk about if Jesus be lifted up, people will be healed. Okay, you know, I'm tired just going through that. I've got to be honest, that is a lot of complaining and a lot of moaning. And so, well, let's wrap this up.

Let's do a little exercise. Should we a couple things to think about? Number one, what areas of your life during Lent right now do you think you complain about more? What are the areas that you think you complain about? Now, I know what areas I complain about and I don't want to talk about it right now. But let's talk about you. How about your health? Do you complain about that in?

Lent? What about food? How's your wife's cooking? How's your husband's cooking? You want to go out to eat, but you can't? You want that chocolate, don't you? Oh, you're complaining. You want that wine again. You want that glass of beer. I know you. How about neighbors? Are you complaining about neighbors? Here's a big one, extended family. Now, some of these might be one, two, three, four times during Lent, just like Israel in the wilderness. Are you complaining about government? How about your children. If you've got teenagers, I'm guessing there's going to be one time during Lent, probably there. How about money? Not that people complain about money or work. You don't complain about work, do you, or your boss or your marriage? What about your church? What about your pastor?

What about your governor? What about your spouse, right? So that's a good question to ask yourself during Lent right now. Keep a scorecard. How are you doing? Number two, I would ask you this, if you're not sure what you are complaining about, I would suggest you ask your spouse, kids, or people at work. Ask them, do I complain about things? Do I whine about things? And number three, ask Jesus, am I a complainer looking for a problem? Or am I an activated disciple solving problems in the world? So I really encourage you today, my friend. I encourage you to pray right now in lent in the middle of it take some time and ask yourself are you a moaning groaning christian or are you a trusting thankful christian something to think about right now and make

the adjustments now's the time to do it don't wait till easter do it now make the corrections now allow Jesus to form you after himself. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, we thank you today for giving us life and we thank you for Lent. We have this opportunity to check our own lives and find the areas that are out of sync with you and bring them to you and ask you to give us strength to make the changes that really are necessary. We love you, Jesus and we thank you for working in our hearts. In your name we pray, amen. Look forward to next week already. God bless you. Work it out during Lent.