Complaining 

It is just ugly, no matter how beautiful you may be.  It is a sour taste with no hint of sweet.  It is a persistent fouling of the air we all must breathe.  Why we, who are otherwise so careful with our appearance that mirrors are stationed at critical points in our homes, offices, and cars, choose to soil our beauty with a complaining spirit, is a mystery. So—stop it!  Stop complaining!  Cease your incessant whining.  If you can’t say something good about something—shut up!

Get the irony?  I am complaining about complaining.  So, there!

Really, it is an issue worth considering.  Consider the “grateful” nation of Israel.

• Having recently ascended from slavery and passed through an obedient sea on dry land because the man of God commanded it so, they established a brand-new tradition—murmuring.
• During their long safari through the wilderness, they complained about the food and the water, and what a dirty deal it all was, even as the clothes on their backs and the shoes on their feet never wore out.
• After God rolled Jordan back for them to cross dry-footed and Jericho crumbled to the music of the trumpet in that good and fair land of promise, they provoke their loving God with their ingratitude. With houses under construction, they complained in their tents.   Not good.
• They mingled with the other nations, forgetting the truths of Mt. Sinai and learning the bloody business of Baal. Even worse.

Would to God this characteristic of God’s people had been left to rot in the desert, but it wasn’t.

They complained about judges and then kings and then prophets and all the while chaffing under the Law of Moses as if it did not contain the covenantal promises of God’s protection and provision.

Ah! But the New Covenant changed all of that!  Would to God that this were so.  The coming together of Gentiles and Jews in the church caused complaining about the fairness of pastoral care.  The ensuing division of ministry assignments between clergy and laity has done little to stifle complaints.  It looks as if the human condition is the state of being disgruntled and making sure everyone knows about it.

But this complaining spirit has been nailed to the Cross; why do we pluck it down, dust it off, and put it in our bag of tricks.  Complaining about everything smacks of pride and selfishness.  It stinks of the flesh, the unredeemed life, and does nothing to solve any problem the complaining one complains about.  If from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, a complaining soul must harbor deep and cancerous shame, shame that has only one cure—the touch of Jesus.

If any of us feels convicted by these thoughts, run to Jesus.  Open your heart to his sure surgery.  Whatever you may have done or whatever may have been done to you to infect your soul with so much shame that nothing ever rises to the level of your approval, the touch of those shame-scarred hands can heal it.

The Scripture prayer at the end of this devotion can help you get from where you are to where you want to be.  It is time to God’s people to be sweet.

Good.  Very good.

 Scriptures: 

Psalm 106 NKJV

Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.  …Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea — the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known.  He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

…Then they believed His words; they sang His praise.  They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. …They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt…, awesome things by the Red Sea.  ….  Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His word, but complained in their tents, and did not heed the voice of the Lord. …. They joined themselves also to Baal … and ate sacrifices made to the dead.  ..  they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; they served their idols, which became a snare to them.  They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled by their own works, and played the harlot by their own deeds.  Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people….  And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them.  …Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

Nevertheless He regarded their affliction When He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies.  … Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.  Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting!  And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!

Philippians 2:14-18 NIV

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life — in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.  But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.  So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Scripture Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You have broken the chains.*

Philippians 2:12-18 (Adapted SRP)

Lord Jesus, You have broken the chains. You are at work in me both “to will and to act according to Your good purpose.” I do not complain or argue. I am blameless and pure, a child of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation. I shine like a star in the black sky. I hold out the Word of Life. I do not labor for nothing; You reward me. Though I am poured out like a drink-offering for the sacrifice and service of Your church, I am glad and rejoice with Your church. Your church is glad and rejoices with me. The substance, image and reflection of my life are one in the same. And this tree still bears fruit. Amen.

*From “7 Days of Prayer” Compiled by Stephen Phifer

https://tinyurl.com/2s3s5ar6

Semper Reformanda!

Stephen Phifer