 Complaining is a common trait among humans. We complain about the weather, traffic, and long lines. It seems that if you stand around long enough you are bound to overhear someone muttering a complaint no matter where you go. While we know it is not what we should do, we fall so easily into the trap of complaining about most things. Sadly, the children of God are not immune to this, in fact, Israel spent much of their forty years grumbling in the wilderness. Tragically, their complaints were not limited to a lack of goods but also directed toward God Himself.
Contradicting the Message of the Gospel As believers though, have you ever considered the message our complaints convey about our belief in God? To complain is to contradict the very character of God. In truth, every time a complaint leaves our lips it contradicts the message of the Gospel. As children of the Most High God, we declare that our God loves us, so much so that He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for our sins. He is a loving, generous, and good God, but our words of complaint don’t back it up. When we say that we don’t have enough, what we are really saying is that God is not a good provider. When we complain about our circumstances, such an extended season of singleness, we are saying that God is not on time or does not know what He is doing. When we complain about feeling abandoned or ignored, we are telling others that God does not love us. If we were to dig a little deeper, however, we would learn the real source of the problem, our hearts. A complaint is merely the verbalization of our thoughts, which are beliefs of our heart at the moment. A Key Battleground Our heart is a key battleground for what we believe to be true and the words that pour from our mouth reveal who won, our flesh or the Spirit. We will face this battle every day and must be vigilant in our guard against the enemy’s weapons. He is relentless in his attack and will use every opportunity to distort the truth of our circumstances and our current conditions to cause us to yield. Our thoughts will be a key piece of ground to fight for in these battles. What we allow to linger in our hearts and minds can impact our perspective. If we let the thought that God has denied us something, we can believe that He is not good. Just as the serpent declared to Eve in the Garden, attempting to make her doubt the goodness of God because she could not eat this tree’s fruit. When we experience an extended season of sorrow or suffering, we can be vulnerable to the belief that God does not even care about us or is even displeased with us. We can think that He is punishing us. Naomi uttered false accusations about God during such a season of loss. She was convinced that God was against her and openly declared her complaints before the people of Bethlehem’s tiny village. Again, the Israelites repeated a similar pattern during their four decades of travel. They often brought their complaints about God to Moses. They could be counted on to find something to complain about, whether that was a lack of water, meat, or even vegetables. Whenever things became a little difficult, they were quick to forget all that God had done for them and loudly complain. The Necessity of the Quiet Place Unfortunately, we can all fall into a similar verbal pitfall when our hearts are worn down by suffering and sorrow. Again, to complain about God is to contradict the very character of God. Every human complaint about God is founded on either a lack of knowledge of God or a lack of trust in God. This is why our quiet time with God matters, because it is the place we continue to learn about who He is and where He reminds us of His person. Every page in scripture is an opportunity to build our faith, knowledge, and trust in God. The greater our faith, the harder it will be to complain because we will remember His promises in the difficult, dark, and discouraging days. The more time we spend in God’s Word, the stronger our armor will become, which enables us to withstand the blows of our adversary. When he whispers to our souls that we are being denied something, the Spirit will bring a promise that “the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11). When the enemy of our souls tries to tell us that if God loved us He would not have let this terrible thing happen, the Spirit will gently remind us that He loves us “with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3) and His “grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) plus He also tells us that “all things (including the trials and sufferings) work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). We must saturate our souls with the truth of God’s Word, or we will be vulnerable to Satan’s attack and prone to complain more. God’s truth is the only way we can shift our focus from the earthly to the eternal. How to Dissolve our Complaints If you have lived for any length of time, you will know that life does not always go according to plan or our timeline. Suffering, loss, pain, disappointments, and hardships will inevitably make their way to us. So what do we do when a complaint threatens to slip out, stemming from these difficult seasons, moments of silence, or times of trials? We must bring them to God. When we have a complaint against someone, it is better to lodge it directly with the person. To complain to everyone else only breeds more problems. In fact, it can stir others to complain or create doubt and stir up discord. There is also no resolution. Nothing can be resolved until the complaint is made to the person we are complaining about. When we find ourselves complaining, like the Israelites, against God specifically, we must bring it before Him. Over and over again, Moses and the Psalmist laid their complaints before the Lord. In Psalm 13, verse one we read: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”. There is an important shift, however, in verse five: “But I have trusted in your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in your salvation.” This is how they resolved it, by speaking to God and dwelling on His truth, both in His character and His truth. If a complaint is left inside, it begins to fester. This is why it is so important to bring it to God, pouring it all out before Him, the One who knows all our thoughts already. When we take this step of vulnerability, we will find the help our soul needs. The only way to dissolve a complaint is to deal with it according to the truth, comparing our complaint to what is real. Often we will discover that it is grounded on a false perception or belief. May we be a people defined by gratitude. Someone once said that, "gratitude isn't only a celebration when good things happen; Gratitude's a declaration that God is good no matter what happens.". Every time we choose to praise God, even in the hardest of circumstances, we loudly declare to both our enemy and a watching world that our God is great, good, and gracious. That is when our light will brightly shine!  God loves us so much, and He has given us His Word to show us His indescribable love, grace, mercy, peace and all that He is. But if we are not spending daily time in the Bible, we will not see and learn of His character.
Reading and studying the Bible is vital to our Christian walk, because we need the peace of God and His guidance to lead us along the way. Just as food is necessary to our physical bodies, spending time in the Word of God is a must for our spirit. For me, when I neglect to spend time with God, I find myself easily agitated and grumpy. Anyone else? Over the past few months I have seen even more the importance of spending daily time with the Lord, since due to health issues and other situations my husband and I have missed a lot of church. However, I have learned that God wants me to seek Him on a regular basis, and He is faithful to give me the spiritual food that I need. The Lord gave me a study method that has greatly helped me see more of His character, apply His Word to my life, while at the same time making difficult portions easier to read. I want to share it with you so that you too can grow in the Lord. You will need a notebook or loose paper, a pen or pencil, and of course, your Bible. So let's S.T.U.D.Y See God’s Character As you read any book or portion of the Bible, write down whatever character traits of God are mentioned. This helps our understanding of God and our love for Him to grow. Things of Nature God’s Word is full of things about nature, be it trees, animals, types of food, birds, flowers and things of the sky and sea. Making note of God's creation helps us to appreciate the beauty around us and teaches us that He cares for and is in control of everything that He has made. Unique Phrases and Words I read in the Bible about a man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Did you know that the Bible talks about throwing a ball and bouncing a child on your knees? There is a choir director who teaches how a song is to be sung, and a king who sends congratulations to King David. There are many references of horseback riding for both men and women, a chest for collecting money, references to boats and ships and even yarn! The Bible is so full of unique words and phrases that I think we often miss. So take time to write down and look up words. Some of these unique phrases or words are also great conversation starters to get others, especially kids, interested in the Bible. Duty to Do or Not to Do Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” In these two verses, we have two things to do and one thing not to do. Sometimes as we read Scripture, we see things not to do based on the actions of others, sometimes there are direct commands such as “Praise ye the LORD.” Words like remember, let and keep are given to indicate an action we must do along with “forget not.” As you make out this “do or don't do” list, sometimes it can be overwhelming or make you feel like you are failing as a Christian, so pray over it, and ask God to show you and help you grow in those areas. Your Favorite Verse(s) What verse or verses stand out to you? It might be something of God's character, a verse of comfort or an instruction. Take time to write it down and think about it throughout the day. Take time to Spend with God God wants us to spend time with Him, and it delights Him when we do! The Lord wants us to grow in our knowledge of Him so that we love Him more and serve Him better. The Bible is the best and most interesting book that you will ever read and study! So, let's S.T.U.D.Y! Rebekah Davis  A Special Surprise
It was a hot summer day, the bugs were ready to attack and my grass was as tall as my three year old. My husband was at work, providing for our family, so I thought I would help my husband by cutting the grass. Granted we have a riding lawn mower, and I am kind of an outdoors kind of girl. I started the lawnmower, checked to see if it had oil and pumped the tires. I began in the front yard and was having a great time, then it happened. The lawnmower started to make a pump noise and felt uneven… you guessed it, I had a flat tire! I pumped and it ran flat five times until I decided I had to find a new tactic. I pushed the lawnmower across the yard again ( cut off because of the safety switch) and by this time I was exhausted. My neighbor, whom I had never spoken to, was out in the yard and I am sweaty and desperate. Willing to ask for help I go to my neighbors yard and out of breath, try to explain how I know nothing about lawnmowers but am trying to surprise my husband by cutting the grass. Now my neighbor, who is an older man in his late seventies, laughs at me and tells his teenage grandson to go fetch the lawnmower and bring it to his yard. He then tells me to go inside and cool off. I am still unsure to trust him, as I was raised to never go into a stranger's house, so I told him I had a child at the house so I couldn't stay too long. By this time his wife came out. She invited me to come inside for something to drink, this time I smiled and said thank you for the offer, but I have a child at home waiting for me. She asked me if I liked tea, then went inside. She came out a few moments later holding a cold glass of tea and a piece of homemade walnut cake. I took it, because it was cake, and stood in the yard while they worked on the lawnmower. Gaining an extended family About fifteen minutes later, with a new tire on the lawnmower, my girl came running down the driveway wondering where I went. After helping them across the street, I introduced my children to my neighbors. My little girl misheard my neighbor and said your name is Papa? I laughed and said NO, and corrected her. He quickly interrupted me and said " you let that baby call me papa, I'll be that girl's papa." I laughed again and just like that we adopted two strangers into our lives. Fast forward to three years later, many borrowed items and cooking lessons later, we are as close as ever. My neighbors are like another set of grandparents to our girls and they adore them. My girls are just as crazy about "Kat Kat" and “Papa” as well. My youngest goes to their house almost everyday to play. Having such tremendous help across the street is a life saver, between last minute schedule changes to childcare they have always been there for me. Stepping outside my comfort zone I had to step out of my comfort zone to ask for help, but the reward from it has been life changing. I never would have thought that an act of kindness from strangers would have impacted mine and my entire family's life like they have. I am so blessed that God uses ordinary people for extraordinary tasks. Next time someone comes and asks for your help, be sure to act like my neighbors. Who knows, maybe just like us a beautiful family bond could be created. |
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