Complaining & How it all comes together

I've been thinking about this a lot lately since we've been writing about it and it amazes me how closely these studies are all tied together:

Stress,worry,fear etc & the Christian (condensed)

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Little white lies.....

Thoughts that are sin

So I've been reflecting on this a lot as I said and decided to start a new thread to show some of the ways they all connect.

First let's review just a little.  We've learned so far that it's our thoughts that are the root of our attitudes, feelings and even actions.  We know that's why the Lord tells us we are to guard our hearts.  (the word translated hearts means both our thoughts/minds and our hearts/emotions).  We've learned too that thoughts themselves can be sinful and we've learned what to do with those kind of thoughts. (take them captive and replace them with the truth).  We've learned too that even our feelings can be sinful and since they're caused by our thoughts, we know how to deal with that as well now.  That's really great too because now instead of treating the symptoms of the disease of sin, we're getting to the root of it.

OK, with all that said, what I'd like to do is show you the next piece the Lord added to the puzzle for me which filled it in enough for me to finally see the pattern.

I had been talking to the Lord and realized that what I was really doing was complaining to Him about things.  That immediately reminded me of this verse among others:

Exodus 16:8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

I'm pretty sure that we've discussed this before too, but when we complain about things, even when we're complaining to other people, what we're really doing is complaining against God.  We're telling ourselves, other people and Him that we don't really trust Him, nor do we appreciate our circumstances or how He's arranged things in our lives.  Sounds pretty harsh doesn't it?  I know that I was pretty floored when I first realized that complaining was a sin.  I really really didn't want to accept that, but no matter how I tried to get around it, just like with the lying, swearing, fear and worry, I finally had to admit that His Word was true and that complaining was indeed a sin.

Let's look quickly at how complaining is a sin.

We know that God's Word is true and we know there are some very basic principals that we must believe.  We must believe that God is good and that He loves us; that He loved us enough to die for us so that our sins could be forgiven and we could spend eternity with Him.  We know that we are to trust Him and believe what He tells us.  We know that God is omnipotent, omniscient, perfect, just, righteous, love, truth, merciful, faithful, longsuffering, powerful and wise.

Are you with me so far?  Ok, then let's look at this very familiar passage:

Romans 8:28-32 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

According to this passage, everything that happens to us God uses to work for our good.  It also says that He will do anything for us to help us conform to the image of His son, and that in fact we WILL be conformed to that image one way or another because it is predestined for us to be.  We also know that He hasn't withheld anything from us that we need for this life; It's all right here in His Word:

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

We know too that He actually has plans for us and that nothing happens to us or to anyone by random chance because He is in control.

This is very hard to incorporate into our daily lives though.  We're used to what the world has taught us which is basically that we're either lucky or not.  I remember when my husband got laid off.  We were devastated and it was so easy to complain, to cry and ask "why me Lord?"  In fact it was when I was in the very act of asking Him "why me" that I realized exactly what I was doing.  I wasn't trusting Him!  Remember when Jesus was on trial and what He said?

Matthew 26:53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

John 19:11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

And we have these verses and many others that show us that God is in control:

John 3:27 To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.

Jeremiah 27:5-6 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.

Daniel 4:35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

Acts 4:27-28 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

So I had to ask myself, if God is in control, what do I have to fear or be upset about?  If God is in control, if He loves me and has plans for me that include a hopeful wonderful future and include me becoming conformed to be like Jesus, then there is nothing to worry about because whenever God says He will do something, it is done.  Period.  There are never any ands ifs or buts about it.  God's will is always done and in our cases, since we're born again, we know what His will for us is.

Isaiah 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 46:11 ... What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

Now, if we truly believe all this, then what do we have to complain about?  Nothing at all because everything is being used to work toward our good and the wonderful future He has planed for us. If we do complain or grumble about it though then we are saying that we really don't believe these things.  That God isn't trustworthy, that He really doesn't love us or care about the things we're going through, and that we really know better then He does what's good for us, etc.  That my friend is once again a sin.  We are literally calling God a liar and a cheat.  We are being idolatrous and prideful by saying that there are things and or people or even ourselves that are more powerful, more wise, more loving etc then God.  We are being hypocrites as well and I'm sure if we really sat here and thought about it, we could come up with a number of other sins as well.  One big one is that we are once again demanding that God prove to us (by doing whatever it is WE think is right) that He is good and loving and just.  We are insisting on living by sight rather then by faith.  Obviously none of these thoughts, feelings or the actions and words that come from them are from faith. 

Romans 14:23 ... and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Please know that I do not mean to imply that I have conquered this sin.  I wish I could say that I have, but I haven't.  Since I live with chronic pain daily, I've certainly have a lot of opportunities for practice though.  I've gotten to the point where I recognize it as sin, and confess and repent of it when I catch myself.  I've even gotten to the point now where I'm catching it more quickly then I used to, and am able to bring my thoughts back into alignment with His Word.  That's gratifying and I know it's only because of the Lord's help that I've gotten that far; but I still have a long way to go.  Just knowing that every time I start to complain, I have an opportunity to practice aligning myself with God's Will helps though because I can see that the more I apply His Word to my life, the more I slowly but surely become conformed to the likeness of His Son my Lord and what greater reward could there be then that?

Now that we've covered the complaining part, tomorrow we can look at how this last piece of the puzzle pulls it all together!

Complaining & How it all comes together