Moaning and Complaining

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’                Hebrews 13:5 NIV

I am telling you this, but not because I need something. I have learned to be satisfied with what I have and with whatever happens. Philippians 4:11 ERV

Have you spent any time listening to early morning or afternoon radio? In fact pretty much any type of talk radio on any frequency? If so, you will have heard our national pastime of moaning, groaning, and complaining. If it was an olympic sport, we would be the undisputed gold medal winners every time.

Somehow, we are able to see something wrong with just about anything. How about things like: My football team manager doesn’t know what he is doing and I could manage that for him. Or, a woman gets paid less than a man. Or, that offender should be in prison longer, in fact he should die there. Or, that idiot was promoted over me, and everybody knows I am better than him. Or, the new traffic diversion in town is terrible, and my 8 year old could do it. Or, the waiting times for surgery at my hospital are too long and I could organise things better. Enough already. You get the picture.

Paul had more reason to complain that any of us, but he didn’t. I read that he was shipwrecked, badly beaten, left for dead, imprisoned in chains, taken to the country’s highest supreme court for trial. And yet he wrote the words in the verses above. Obviously he able to stay calm and know with assurance that he had something better than anything else that was thrown at him.

Paul was an early Christian, and so his life was in constant danger. Can we say the same thing? Is our life in constant danger? And yet we don’t have the assurance that everything is worth the cost for the eternal glory that is ours. So what do we do? We moan about anything that doesn’t go our way, and tell anyone who will listen. So what was it that kept Paul secure? He said it this way: ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ It was enough for Paul, shouldn’t it be enough for us too??

The Test

Hezekiah succeeded in everything he undertook. But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart. 2 Chronicles 32:31

We always assume that God is by our side all day, every day, but is that always the case? Hezekiah was tested by God, but not by some great request or temptation he would have to overcome with God’s help, but by God leaving him. Why would God do that to His servant? Simply because He wanted to know what was in Hezekiah’s heart when the chips were down.

The parallel to you and me is easy to make. Have you ever felt alone, as if God has left you, and the old ‘Footprints’ poem doesn’t seem to fit or apply? I certainly have. These times can come during a personal crisis when the only person you can turn to as a Christian is God, and He is just not there. It may be a little like the analogy of the exams in school. The teacher is silent during the time of the test.

What do you do when you’re in deep trouble, and God is silent, and He has taken a step back? I think we have two choices. Either get even more discouraged and faith takes a severe hit OR faith comes through, and you become stronger because you have endured the test. Perhaps this is the biggest test of your Christian life. It will undoubtedly be a turning point and we can never be the same person again because God will know everything that is in our hearts, but so too will we. So, don’t fear the test, but embrace it!