INTRO.- ILL.- A monk joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years his superior called him in and asked, "Do you have anything to say?" The monk replied, "Food bad." After another 10 years the monk again had opportunity to voice his thoughts. He said, "Bed hard." Another 10 years went by and again he was called in before his superior. When asked if he had anything to say, he responded, "I quit." His superior said, "It doesn't surprise me a bit. You've done nothing but complain ever since you got here."
If that’s all the complaining anybody ever did we’d be in good shape. Or if we never complained but every 10 years we would be considered as saints by most people. But this is not the norm for most people. It seems like we all tend to be more negative than positive about life. We see the bad stuff instead of looking at things from a positive view.
ILL.- For example, a survey asked mothers to keep track of how many times they made negative, compared with positive, comments to their children. They admitted that they criticized ten times for every time they said something favorable. A three-year survey in one city's schools found that the teachers were 75% negative. (I guess 75% of the time)
OH WOW! Are we humans that bad? Are we that negative? Do we complain more than we commend? Are we more negative than positive?
ILL.- It’s like that old story about the guy who took his family to church. As they were driving home after church he complained about everything. He said, “The music was too loud. The sermon was too long. The announcements were unclear. The building was hot. The people were unfriendly.” He went on and on, complaining about virtually everything. Finally, his son said, “Dad, you’ve got to admit, it wasn’t a bad show for just a dollar.”
If God were as negative as we are where do you think we’d be?
2 Corinthians 1:20 “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”
All of God’s promises are “yes” in Christ. And they are many. They positive in Christ. They are positively good in Christ. And no one offers anything better to mankind than God. This being true then we should be more positive about life than negative.
We always have hope in Christ for better days and hope for our future eternity with Him. We have everything going for us because we are in Christ and we can trust in all of His promises in the Bible!
Romans 8:28 “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.”
Romans 8:32-33 “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?”
I don’t think you can get any more positive than these verses. GOD IS ON OUR SIDE! Consequently, we can be and must be more positive in life and complain less than others.
PROP.- But what do we do when we have a complaint in life? Where do we turn? The Psalmist tells us.
1- We pour out our complaints to the Lord
2- We confess the Lord as our refuge
3- We ask for the Lord’s help in time of need
I WE POUR OUT OUR COMPLAINTS TO THE LORD
1 I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. 3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. 4 Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.
ILL.- Out West, a cowboy was driving down a dirt road, his dog riding in back of the pickup truck, his faithful horse in the trailer behind. He failed to negotiate a curve and had a terrible accident. Sometime later, a highway patrol officer came on the scene. An animal lover, he saw the horse first. Realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of his misery. He walked around the accident and found the dog, also hurt critically. He couldn't bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog's suffering as well.
Finally he located the cowboy --who suffered multiple fractures--off in the weeds. "Hey, are you okay?" the cop asked. The cowboy took one look at the smoking revolver in the trooper's hand and quickly replied, "Never felt better!"
If you thought the Lord was going to put you out of your misery for complaining you might get better quickly or at least, say you were just fine. Fortunately for us, the Lord is willing to listen to our complaints in life.
He is the one person who will put up with our complaints. God is a good listener in all situations.
ILL.- Back in 1984 I had purchased a new Olds Cutlass Ciera wagon. It wasn’t long after I purchased it that whenever we used the AC it emitted a stinking smell in the car. I took it back to the dealer three times. Each time they tried something different. Finally, after the third time the service manager said to me, “Spray lysol in the vents. Otherwise, put up with it.” PUT UP WITH IT?! And furthermore, he wasn’t nice about it.
I finally took to another GM dealer and asked them if they would look it. They did and found that it had a leak in the system causing the smell and they fixed it.
After that I wrote a letter to both the dealer where I bought the car and the owner of that dealership, explaining in detail what happened and how I was treated by the service manager. In the letter I said that the only person who treated me nice was the salesman who went out of his way to help me. I said in the letter that they should make him the service manager. And the next time I went back to that dealership they had made that salesman the service manager! The wheel that squeaks the loudest gets the grease!
For the most, however, we humans squeak too much in life. But if we want to squeak or gripe or complain, please don’t put it on facebook, take it to the Lord instead. HE WILL LISTEN BECAUSE HE IS FULL OF COMPASSION FOR HURTING PEOPLE AND PERHAPS EVEN COMPLAINING PEOPLE.
1 I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.
Yes, there is someone who cares and we can come to Him with our hurts, our pain, and EVEN our complaints. Most people won’t listen to your complaints, but the Lord will. He can handle them.
II WE CONFESS THE LORD AS OUR REFUGE
5 I cry to you, O Lord; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
I say, “You are my refuge...” This is a form of confession. It’s a confession of something good; that we belong to the Lord and that we believe He can take care of us. Have you confessed your faith in the Lord lately?
ILL.- In one of his speeches to the soldiers of the first World War, General Pershing said: “I have known Jesus Christ now for forty-seven years, and I could not face life without Him. It is no small thing to know that all the past is forgiven, that help is available from God every day.” Then he said, “I commend such a Savior to you.” That’s confession.
ILL.- As preacher Dwight L. Moody walked down a Chicago street one day, he saw a man leaning against a lamppost. He gently put his hand on the man's shoulder and asked him if he was a Christian. The fellow raised his fists and angrily exclaimed, "Mind your own business!"
"I'm sorry if I've offended you," said Moody, "but to be very frank, that IS my business!" And it’s our business to confess Christ any time we have the opportunity.
Matthew 10:32-33 KJV “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
Romans 10:9-10 KJV “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Confession of Christ is a part of the salvation process. If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and Savior of the world then we must publicly confess Him anywhere, any time. And not just in church but in the world as well. Confession is not like baptism, which is one time deal. We are generally baptized only one time in life but confession and repentance continue and should be a daily thing with us.
ILL.- Someone wrote: “A good witness is like a signpost. It doesn't matter whether it is old, young, pretty, or ugly; it just has to point the right direction and be able to be understood.” And so with us for Christ. We point to him whenever we can.
ILL.- Frederick the Great was a scoffer, but his great general, Von Zealand, was a Christian. One day at a gathering, the king was making coarse jokes about Jesus Christ and the whole place was ringing with laughter.
Von Zealand rose and said, “Sir, you know I have not feared death. I have fought and won 38 battles for you. I am an old man; I shall soon have to go into the presence of One Greater than thou, the mighty God who saved me from my sin, the Lord Jesus Christ whom you are blaspheming. I salute thee, sir, as an old man, who loves his Savior, on the edge of eternity.”
With trembling voice, Frederick replied: “General Von Zealand. I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon! I beg your pardon!” The company silently dispersed.
The confession of our faith in Christ can have a dramatic impact on those around us. But it won’t if we don’t speak it.
III WE ASK FOR THE LORD’S HELP IN TIME OF NEED
6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
LISTEN TO ME. RESCUE ME.
ILL.- Driving through Mineral Wells, Texas, one afternoon in 1994, Jim Rhodes noticed many buildings standing vacant due to the shutdown of a local military base. "I always complain to God about things that bother me," says Rhodes, "so I asked him, ’Why aren’t these buildings being used to help the homeless?’"
A few days later an announcement appeared in the paper: one of the base buildings was available to any charitable organization that could put it to good use. More to appease his conscience than to make a serious inquiry, Rhodes sent a letter to city officials, suggesting his idea. The answer he wasn’t prepared for came back: "It’s yours."
"Never say ’God use me’ unless you really mean it," Rhodes says with a smile. Decades earlier another complaint to God about abandoned children led him and his wife, Melinda, to adopt eight "special needs" children and be foster parents to hundreds more over the years. Soon Rhodes found himself also helping pregnant and battered women, which grew into New Haven Ministries in 1986.
"The next step was to begin helping homeless families," Rhodes says. After a chain of miracles, including more than 5,000 volunteer hours from plumbers, electricians, and painters who renovated the facility, New Haven Family Center opened its doors in September 1995.
Since then, the center has helped over 20 intact families get back on their feet. Families live at the center two or three months while they find employment. The center provides clothes, food, GED, and computer classes.
"This is a totally Christian, totally donated, non-government funded ministry," says Rhodes. "Most of these folks just need a hand up instead of a hand out."
What’s next for Rhodes? "Only God knows," he chuckles, "but I’m sure he’ll let me know the next time I start complaining." (Tara Tremaine, Christian Reader, "Ordinary Heroes.")
Complain and ask for the Lord’s help and you will get answer. It may not be the answer you expect, BUT HE WILL HEAR AND ANSWER.
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
CONCLUSION----------------
ILL.- Mark Twain said, “Don't complain and talk about all your problems--80 percent of people don't care; the other 20 percent will think you deserve them.”
It may be that sometimes in life we deserve the problems we get. We make our own bed and have to lie in it, be it good or bad.
While most people don’t want to listen to our complaints we know that there is one person who has a listening ear and a compassionate heart. How thankful we should be for our gracious God on whom we can lay our complaints and bring our burdens.
Steve Shepherd, Cape Girardeau, MO
shepherd111@hotmail.com
