Friday, June 8, 2012

Before You Complain...

I'd like to direct your attention to two verses on this fine Friday morning...
"Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" (Lam. 3:39).
"And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this" (Ezra 9:13).
It's true that not all suffering in life is the result of sins we've committed. Time and chance happen to all of us (Eccl. 9:11) and God sends rain on the just and unjust (Mt. 5:45). Sometimes we endure suffering only because God is trying to impart some great spiritual lesson, or use us to impart spiritual lessons to others (John 9:1-3). At the same time, all of us have sinned (Rom. 3:23), and therefore we're all deserving not only of spiritual death (Rom. 6:23) but of any and all consequences that God deems necessary, or that naturally result from whatever sins we've committed.

The lesson?

Simply put, we have no right to complain to God, because the fact is, whether you realize it or not, you have sinned, you are deserving of God's wrath, and yet He has lovingly shown you mercy and kindness all too often. I look at my life, for example, and I see how blessed I am and I realize that I have no right to complain. I don't deserve any of these blessings that God has showered upon me! I think of my faults and shortcomings, of my sins, of my past, of all I've done against God (even when I knew better), and I think to myself: what I deserve is the gutter! 

May we never forget how blessed we are. May we never forget the source of our blessings. May we never forget the many times we have shamefully turned our backs on the Source of our blessings - God. May we never forget how God has "punished us less than our iniquities deserve." Rather than get angry at God, be in awe of His mercy and tender compassion. Wow!

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