bitterness

Complain Right Here

/ thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

Complaining-ManComplaining is probably one of the most respectable sins among people who claim to know Christ as Savior, next to things such as gossip, an occasional use of profanity or white lies. We usually don’t see it as someone who is complaining-it is usually the person with a bad attitude. After all, it does not seem that bad of a thing or that big of a deal because. everyone complains. We are only human. But this cannot easily be brushed aside as some small sin and Christians need to consider their attitude because it really exposes what they think about God.

Do you realize that this sin was severely punished under the Old Covenant?  It was the most common sin of Israel after they left Egypt (Ex 15:24; 16:2; 17:3; Num. 14:2, 29).  Paul says to the Corinthians: “You must stop complaining, as some of them were doing, and were annihilated by the destroyer.” (1 Cor 10:10 ISV).  Annihilated? Yes.  You are terminated.

It makes you wonder how with all the blessings we have in the New Covenant how God views complaining. Since everything described in the New Covenant is “better” (Heb. 8:6).

It should be very clear: there’s nothing wrong with going to God directly in prayer and pouring out complaints before Him. He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we speak them (Psalm 139). Asaph prayed, “I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble.” (Psalm 142:2). We are allowed to come and complain directly to the Lord (Psalm 77:2-3). BUT what we should not do is complain to others, look for self pity or grow a huge attitude about something that we should be directing to God in prayer. That is third-party complaining. It is bad enough when we think about how rough our lives are but when it starts dripping out of our mouths in muffled tones like spiritual sewage there is a problem. Stop walking around talking to yourself about how mistreated and misunderstood you are. God can hear you and He does not like it. All this is about is you wanting to have a one sided conversation with a total disregard for God’s input.

Complaining is having a grievance against God that results in cynical distrust in God’s ways. God asks, “Why do you complain…how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? …How can you say God ignores your rights?” (Isaiah 40:27NIV/NLT). This is when a person mumbles bitterly against God. They are unhappy with Him and the way he does things. They are miserable because of conflicts with people or circumstances. They are resentful for what they see as being unfairly treated by God. But they maintain a veneer of religion and worship. Yet, they accuse God of wrongdoing under their breath. They make sure their complaining is heard but not too loud. They insinuate against the Lord’s character and make sure they make some kind of dig at God without him noticing. They do not scream in protest but as one man puts says they have, “the whispers and looks of discontent.” (Wagner). Complaining hints that God is not in control or it suggests he does not care for his own people. It diminishes God’s glory.

Complaining is a deep rooted heart condition that is seen as a cynical attitude. Complaining is the habit of those who have had difficulty gaining a biblical  mindset and godly perspective on the trials of life-because their expectations are unrealistic and unwise. So they are angry and depressed. Eventually their issues with God manifest in other ways. You usually see complaining where people are unfulfilled and unhappy creating an atmosphere charged with nitpicking, arguing and negativity that eats away at relationships (James 4:1-3). In 1 Corinthians 10 it is the last step before the cliff of total rejection by God of an entire generation of people and Paul intends to warn and threaten the church at Corinth with this truth.

You say, “Wow, that is ugly.”

Indeed it is. Especially for Christians who claim to love and obey God.

The New Testament teaches, “Do everything without complaining and arguing.” (Phil 2:14). Well there it is-everything. There is no amnesty where you can get away with a chronically bad attitude. It can ruin your life and your soul. My suggestion to cure this sickness of the soul is to talk to God in prayer and ask him to forgive you. Ask him to help you to learn contentment by trusting that he is faithful to his promises and will give you the strength to endure hardship. Study the lives of people in the Bible and read the biographies of Christians who suffered and remained faithful to God. Find mature Christian’s who have endured difficulty and talk to them about your challenges. It will encourage you to know that you are among people in a fellowship of sufferings that desire to identify with Christ (Phil. 3:7-10), who want to grow in his grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18) and have a better resurrection (Heb 11:35). Ask God to make you a testimony to others so that you can help others with the comfort you have received from God (2 Cor 1: 3-7).

© 2015 Soul Health Care Ministries. Come on now, give credit where credit is due.

Tales From the Furnace Part 1

/ thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

furnace“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy…for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14).

 

We are saved by God’s sovereign grace alone, through faith alone by Christ alone for God’s glory alone. But we will go through a process of sanctification and be comformed to his image. What I am attempting to say is not email, voice mail or snail mail it is heart mail. I only know that in order to change and change I must, that the furnace can not be side stepped. Only when you grow sick and tired of your self and you will, then you of your own free will enter the furnace. You will cry for purging of your sin nature rather than pardon for your sins. The children of Israel were told, “But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. (Deut 4:20).

 

Those are ominous words at first reading. Peter tells those persecuted Christians thousands of years ago that trials are fiery. This verse can say easily, “Don’t be amazed by the burning!”  I am amazed that this could happen to me. My present suffering is agony on fire and a trial by fire. It burns. It injures. It hurts so badly. My tears are like the crackling of the flames. When I am dumb with silence I just feel the steady heat, I have a steady glow as all the moisture in me is turned into a drought (Psalm 32:4). I am dehydrated. I thirst! My soul is a dry and thirsty land where there is no water and I thirst for God (Psalm 63:1-3)! Of course it burns, scorching fire is involved. If by chance you hear or read these words and you are experiencing pain, you are not unspiritual, it does not mean you are carnal because you are in pain.

 

There is dignity in this time even when you feel all your self-respect has been stripped away. People will accuse you or worse counsel you during this time. This is a matter of intimacy. Man’s opinion or man pleasing is the heart of all lethal religion. Of the Pharisees who refused the fire of Christ’s words it says, “All their works they do for to be seen of men!” (Mt. 23:5). Do you and I feel absolved from this sort of criminal act? The Message version says, “Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next.” Man’s opinion of you must become fuel for the furnace or you will never benefit from this trial. You will be useless for the Master’s work. When you come to the realization of how many things you have done to be seen of men instead of God, it will break your heart!

 

You and I feel disfigured on the way to be transfigured. What you were, what you know does not matter at all in these flames. Self esteem and confidence-what are they in this furnace that incinerates all things?

 

A healthy view of self is not against scripture and impish false humility is loathsome to God but self hatred has its place as well. But everything is an issue to the flames including your identity and titles. Your history and good works are but dung if you would win Christ! (Phil 3:8). Nothing can douse the inferno. Man centered theology cannot help you. Don’t speak to me of psychology. Leave me and my Beloved alone. You cannot know. Only he can. What you and I know about God is tested and if it is worthless it is reduced to ashes as the fire licks at our mind and soul and removes it to where we have more questions than answers! 

 

If you are suffering, you are suffering like Christ did. To be like Jesus is the prayer of any child of God who has a sane understanding of what it is to be a Christian. I am stunned as I read that people “did not accept deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection!” (Heb 11:35). What kind of mindset is that compared to what we hear preached in the pop theology of the emergent, church growth cults of today?

 

But could you look at him in the face, touch his nail scarred hands, the wound that was from a lance thrust in his side and look down art his nail pierced feet never having endured suffering and trial? Is Jesus in his suffering so disfigured in your eyes that you do not see the beauty he has? Paul prayed for “the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings!” (Phil 3:10). The Murdock translation says, “That I might know Jesus, and the efficacy of his resurrection; and might participate in his sufferings, and be assimilated to his death.” The effectiveness of his resurrection life can only be appreciated when you are personally involved with a suffering for Christ and are absorbed into his death! Is this suffering Jesus someone you avoid? It is a fellowship and companionship. Those who associate with him do suffer. But we suffer with him that we might reign with him. (2 Tim 3:12).

 

As hard as it is to accept, a radiance and splendor of his presence is going to be seen in you like never before. You are being integrated into all that Jesus is, in this furnace. The spirit of glory and of God will rest on you.

 

This trial is familiar yet unique. It is a test. Why now? Either things were going so well, or things are bad enough! Now a test comes! It is not a pop quiz, it is like a pop SAT. Trials are not strange. It is not an accident. This is not THE trial with no obstacles afterward. There are many ordeals in this life (James 1:2-3). God says “Don’t be confused. It is on purpose. You must be tested and proven.”  God is not after you he is after something in you. Like a dangerous glaucoma of pride, or the cancer of bitterness, any soul damning desires that lurk like a cancer that pretends to be benign when it actually can turn terminal in an instant.

 

But no matter despite what Peter our brother in Christ wrote to us, my first reaction to life’s complications is that they are strange and I am confused. I have been here before but it is a different scene.