Last year was a season of losses for me. It started in the spring when I was hospitalized 21 days for double pneumonia. The lung infection was bad enough, but the extended stay in bed left my right arm thick with lymphedema. Some of it was related to my long-ago therapy for cancer, but this was different. After my lungs cleared, I was sent home, but with a bulkier arm that was hard to lift.
Then in late summer, I developed a second respiratory infection, much worse than the first. During another lengthy hospital stay, I noticed more problems with my right arm. The doctors, however, stayed focused on the more life-threatening issue with my lungs. When the infection cleared and I was ready to go home, it was obvious my arm had suffered more damage. The already minuscule muscles I had used to feed myself were gone. Even with my hand splint, I could not lift the spoon to my mouth.
Decades ago, after suffering quadriplegia in the wake of my accident, doctors warned me that my partially paralyzed muscles would atrophy, and I knew that my âgoodâ arm and my fragile lungs would eventually deteriorate. I just didnât realize how hard it would be, losing the capacity to breathe well and losing my independence at mealtimes. Like I said, it was a tough year.
My flesh is wasting away, and who would blame me if I complained? Certainly not the world â itâs natural for them to expect an old lady in a wheelchair to grumble over her losses. But followers of Jesus Christ should expect more from me. Much more.
Why Do You Quarrel with God?
The Bible first addresses complaining in the book of Exodus. Things start off well enough after the Lord performs a great miracle at the Red Sea. At first, everyoneâs ecstatic about walking through a sea parted on either side like glass skyscrapers. With their hearts bursting with joy, the entire fifteenth chapter is one long praise song:
I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my fatherâs God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:1â2)
A few verses later, though, their song fizzles. Only 72 hours of traveling in the desert without finding water, they grumble and demand of Moses, âWhat shall we drink?â (Exodus 15:24).
How ironic that they should complain about water! Didnât they recall that God had just parted a whole sea of it? Their memory was jogged when God made bitter desert water good enough for them to drink. Yet only a couple of campsites later, they put up another stink about water. This time Moses replies, âWhy do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?â (Exodus 17:2).
Moses sharply rebukes them for disputing with the God who has just wondrously rescued them out of slavery. So, âhe called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, âIs the Lord among us or not?ââ (Exodus 17:7).
Do Not Harden Your Hearts
Nowadays, who among us would dare quarrel with God like that? Yet we do, every time we bellyache, quibble over some inequity, or whine about Godâs timing or lack of provision. Even when we mutter (thinking itâs barely audible), all of our bemoaning is an assault against one Person: Jesus, the great I Am, who spilled a red sea of blood to wondrously rescue us out of slavery. When things donât go our way and we grumble about it, we are inasmuch stamping our foot, crossing our arms, and demanding, âLord, are you among us or not!â
Psalm 95:7â10 is a repeat of the Exodus debacle, except this time itâs not Moses speaking; it is Yahweh himself. And he has a message for us:
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. . . . They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. (Psalm 95:8â10)
When Godâs people make a habit of complaining, theyâve gone astray and abandoned Godâs ways.
âWait a minute,â some might say. âCut us some slack â weâre just letting off a little steam.â If complaining were only a slip of the tongue, I might understand â especially if that person were an immature believer. But when a Christianâs default setting is to grumble, it develops into a character trait â a complaining spirit. A rebellious spirit. Some Christians may not see themselves as stiff-necked rebels when they squawk if it rains on their picnic, but Scripture speaks of a complaining spirit far differently.
Trembling over Our Grumbling
Whenever a group of Christians tour Joni and Friends and stop by my office, I like to spend some time and explain to them the reason behind my smile in this wheelchair. After introductions and a few comments, Iâll pick out someone to reach for the Bible on my shelf and flip to the book of Jude (I have the page marked). Then Iâll ask, âRead the fifteenth verse, please.â
Adjusting her glasses, the reader will say,
Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14â15)
âWho are these ungodly people?â Iâll ask. âPedophiles? Mass murderers? Drug dealers in schoolyards?â A few will nod. I then turn to the one with the Bible and ask her to read the next verse: âThese are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desiresâ (Jude 16).
I close the little lesson, explaining how we tend to think of sin on a sliding scale. We place on one side gross wickedness like barstool swearing and Satan worship, and on the other nitpicking (complaints that appear respectable). We think we are not as ungodly as those evil reprobates who take part in orgies and follow the horoscope. Weâre not ungodly at all; weâre merely spewing off about things now and then.
Judeâs scathing judgment, however, proves that God does not split hairs when it comes to sin, especially the sin of complaining. So, he does what weâd consider scandalous: he places grumblers at the top of a sordid list of apostates, connivers, and loud-mouthed boasters âfor whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved foreverâ (Jude 13).
It should make us tremble.
My Life Is Not My Own
After those two times in the hospital, I began rigorous home therapy for my damaged lungs. Twice a day, I must wear a tight vest that violently vibrates my chest for fifteen minutes as I inhale steroids through a nebulizer. âHow long do I have to keep this up?â I asked my pulmonologist.
âIndefinitely,â he replied, âif you want to live.â
I was numb. That first week I tried to ignore the whole routine, the terrible jackhammering of the vest-machine, as well as the pungent vapors from the nebulizer. I viewed the routine as an unpleasant detour, an inconvenient interruption until I could get back on the main road of life. Ah, but this is your life, I heard the Spirit whisper.
Did I have a right to complain? Actually, I possess no real rights. I laid them all at the foot of the cross, agreeing with 1 Corinthians 6:19â20: âYou are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.â The Son of God was ripped to shreds, and then hung up to drain like a bloodied piece of meat on a hook. And if this is what Jesus endured to rescue me, I refuse to dignify any sin that impaled him to that cursed tree.
I will not coddle anything that helped drive the nails deeper. I relinquished my right to complain so that I might glorify Almighty God through my hardships. Anything less shrinks my soul.
Woes of a Complaining Spirit
A complaining spirit abuses the kindness of Christ, for God âraised us up with [Christ] . . . so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesusâ (Ephesians 2:6â7). God will one day raise us up to showcase the riches and kindness of his grace through us. I dare not diminish that glorious moment with a negative tongue…Continue Reading@ https://www.desiringgod.org
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People Often Ask These Questions:
- How do I fulfil my destiny? Our destiny is bound up in our response to the Gospel. âAre you saved or lost?â That is the question above all questions. The declaration of the Gospel is âJesus saves.â He saves from wrath, judgment, hell, bondage, the devil, and darkness. He saves us from dying in our sins. âŚPeople insure their houses and yet do not insure their eternal future. Yet we know that salvation offers so much more. Who else offers such insurance but Jesus?
- Why does God allow suffering? You could just as well ask the National Secretary of Transportation why he allows accidents on the highways. No doubt he would take exception to your accusation and point to the rules of the road. âEvery time a law is broken, an accident and suffering might occur,â he would reply. People suffer chiefly for one reasonâthey are ignoring Godâs rulebook, the Bible, and everything goes wrong. Our Creator knows exactly how He has made us and what will harm us. Consequently, out of a caring, protective heart, He says, âYou shall not ⌠â The âyou shall notsâ are not edicts designed to spoil our fun, but rather they are the manufacturerâs handling instructions. God wisely knows that our psyche is unable to handle sin. Actually, it is crushed and tormented by misdeeds. It is always wise to read the instruction manual before using a new appliance. People worry about breaking a new DVD player or a new computer, but strangely, they have no worries about destroying their own spirits and souls with the poison of sin.
Would You Like To Give OR Re-Dedicate Your Life To JESUS CHRIST, But You Donât Know HOW?
Please READOUT LOUD below Prayer and contact us @ circ.community@emoltem.com for more information.
âDear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior and to yield back the life given to me by You, back to You. Take Control of my life Lord, and let only your will be done in my life from now on. Amen.â