Complaining

This post was inspired by my grandpa's sermon last Sunday. He has been working through the 10 commandments, and right now he is working through sins by the first commandment (from Question 105 of the Westminster Larger Catechism). This past Sunday, he focused on the sin of complaining. Complaining, he pointed out, is something that has become socially acceptable. Christians, myself included, have been sucked right into this. As I thought about the sermon, it seemed to be that I have rarely had an long conversation with someone without one or both of us complaining about something. We seem to find no end of things to complain about. Our bosses are miserable to work for, our college professor is a pain in the neck, the computer isn't working, and on and on the list goes.

What I wonder is, could we even find as many things to be thankful for as we do to complain about? Something is drastically wrong here. As Christians, we need to be content with ANY circumstances God sends our way. He does ALL things for our good. Now, there is nothing wrong with being disappointed or sad, or relating to others the various difficult circumstances we face. But, there is a fine line between this and complaining. When we complain, we forget that God is good and is in control. We say, "I don't deserve this. God, you're being unfair. I know what is good for me." Ultimately, we make ourselves to be gods because we think we know better than God. As sinners, we DELIGHT in self-pity. This is a direct slap in the face to God and His abundant mercy and blessings.

Job truly worshipped God in the midst of great loss and suffering. He did not curse God or get angry. Now, as the book moves on, especially in the later chapters, God uses Elihu to show Job that he was complaining and that he was making himself a god, and saying that God had wronged him. Then, of course, God appeared to Job and really drove home the message. But the fact remains that, throughout the whole book, Job still worshipped God. He realized that we enter the world with nothing and can leave with nothing.

We need to understand how serious a sin complaining is (and I include myself in this). Though Job continued to faithfully worship God, the last few chapters of the book show how angry God was at Job for his complaining, and Job realized the seriousness of his sin. It is high time we realized it too, and started to count our blessing and thank God for them and remain thankful even in hard times, rather than counting our troubles and complaining about them, and forgetting the blessings God has given us.