When Complaining is Helpful

I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah (Psalm 77:1–3) 

There are a couple of ways to complain . . . at least! The one is bad and Scripture commands against it. Phil. 2:14, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning." I have fond memories of the sign back of our dorm room doors at Bob Jones University. One line read, "Griping will not be tolerated." By the way, that 's from the word "gripe" not "grip." (Perhaps there ought to be on Wall Street a sign about "No gripping" or grasping after money!?) . . . Anyway . . . The OTHER kind of complaining is illustrated in the above Psalm. Such "complaints" are found frequently throughout the Psalter and provide us with the life experience of the people of God. It's not always coming up roses, is it? "In the day of my trouble I seek the LORD." That's the key . . . I seek the LORD not just pity. But read on . . .

But you might be saying right now, "This is not what I think of as complaining." And you're right. But he is saying, "I am in trouble, my spirit is low; I'm fainting." It's a frank admission that all is not well. But my point in bringing this out (and what particularly struck me when reading it) is to draw a simple observation. There is an important distinction between complaining in the presence of others and complaining to God. Before others, I am just venting, expressing my displeasure at my situation with no real solution or hope of resolution in mind. But that is not the case with complaints to God. Complaining to God may indeed be a venting with no hope in mind. Initially. But when we issue complaints against God TO God, we set the table for our Lord to serve up the best of solutions. It puts our life-situation in the right forum, the forum where the sovereign and loving God works his will . . . an often unappreciated, but nevertheless, pure and godly will. When I complain before God, I am saying not only what I don't like, but admitting that I don't want to continue NOT liking it, and therefore, I am appealing to him to help me out. 

I think this is something of what the Psalmist is doing here. Let us cast our complaints before the Lord in faith that he will help us handle it well, and that he will solve our dilemma. That beats by far just a lot of hate speech issued to others about our situations. Griping to others only exascerbates our situation, but complaints to God lay them out where they can be dealt with and resolved. 

That's when complaining is helpful.

Guarding Our Soul

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:26, 27)

Since I was quite young, these verses have been among the most solemn and frankly scary in all of Scripture. We who minister are so privileged to speak in Jesus' name. But, oh, how we must be very sure that we stay to our calling, and remain unfettered by sin's allurements. It is for this reason that I truly identified with the following from Ken Osbeck's, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. Keying on the hymn by George Heath, 1750-1822, he writes:

There is nothing more tragic than to see a Christian negate a lifetime of worthy living and service for God through some spiritual defeat and dishonor to the gospel. Imagine the shame of Job when Eliphaz the Temanite rebuked him with these cutting words:

Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees, but now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope? (Job 4:3–6)

The apostle Paul’s fervent concern for his life, that after he had preached to others he himself might be disqualified by God through careless living, seems to apply to the writer of this hymn text. George Heath was an English independent minister, who in 1770 became pastor of a Presbyterian church at Honiton, Devonshire. Later, proving himself unworthy of this office, he was deprived of his parish “for cause.” Eventually, it seems, he became a Unitarian minister. It is difficult to understand how a person could write such a stirring challenge on the subject of spiritual steadfastness and then change so drastically in later years. Yet the Scriptures are clear that the Christian life is a lifetime of perseverance, and whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is unfit for service in God’s kingdom (Luke 9:62). We must have the enabling power of the Holy Spirit each day if we intend to be on guard.

My soul, be on thy guard—ten thousand foes arise. The hosts of sin are pressing hard to draw thee from the skies.      

O watch and fight and pray; the battle ne’er give o’er; renew it boldly ev’ry day, and help divine implore.      

Ne’er think the vict’ry won, nor lay thine armor down; the work of faith will not be done till thou obtain thy crown.      

Fight on, my soul, till death shall bring thee to thy God; He’ll take thee, at thy parting breath, to His divine abode.

'A Kempis on Despising the World and Loving Christ

HE WHO follows Me, walks not in darkness,” says the Lord. By these words of Christ we are advised to imitate His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened and free from all blindness of heart. Let our chief effort, therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ.

The teaching of Christ is more excellent than all the advice of the saints, and he who has His spirit will find in it a hidden manna. Now, there are many who hear the Gospel often but care little for it because they have not the spirit of Christ. Yet whoever wishes to understand fully the words of Christ must try to pattern his whole life on that of Christ.
 

What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it. For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.
 

This is the greatest wisdom—to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.
Often recall the proverb: “The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing.” Try, moreover, to turn your heart from the love of things visible and bring yourself to things invisible. For they who follow their own evil passions stain their consciences and lose the grace of God.
 

Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1996), 1-2.

Repentance: A Joyous Sorrow

Sin has an amazing hold over us, such that it not only grips us in its bondage, but then (for the believer) tries to prevent his getting cleaned up afterward. Confession is a wonderful grace, made abundantly available through Jesus' blood. Which Christian hasn't learned 1 John 1:9? But one thing is better than confession. No, I'm not referring to forgiveness (as wonderful as it is), but repentance. It's one thing to know I've done wrong, sinned, and therefore, need to confess it (lit., "to say the same thing about my sin as God would say"). It's quite another thing to repent of that sin. Hear Charles Spurgeon,

Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature’s garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners except divine grace works it in them. If thou hast one particle of real hatred for sin, God must have given it thee, for human nature’s thorns never produced a single fig. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”

I want to-as a Christian-grow to hate the sin that clasps me and fools me. True repentance as about it an attitude of sorrow, sorrow over the sin, for having committed it at all, and for having committed it against such a wonderful Master as Jesus Christ! There's a gloriously cleansing aspect to repentance, when you know that not only do you realize your error, but you truly feel sorrow over it! Sorrow not only "feels" right, but it required.

True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say he hates sin, if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but experimentally—as a burnt child dreads fire. We shall be as much afraid of it, as a man who has lately been stopped and robbed is afraid of the thief upon the highway; and we shall shun it—shun it in everything—not in great things only, but in little things, as men shun little vipers as well as great snakes. True mourning for sin will make us very jealous over our tongue, lest it should say a wrong word; we shall be very watchful over our daily actions, lest in anything we offend, and each night we shall close the day with painful confessions of shortcoming, and each morning awaken with anxious prayers, that this day God would hold us up that we may not sin against him. (Morning and Evening)

Lord, drive us to such a place of sorrow, that we may be re-introduced to the garden of your joys!

Jesus, A Well of Water in the Dryest of Times!

Due to an article deadline, I have not posted since the 25th. And this one is but a quotation from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional which any of you could find easily online (or like me, in your Bible software). But it is one that we do well to read and in which we should rejoice. No matter how distraught we may become in our circumstances, Christ is a "spring of living water welling up." Oh, that we in this information age could sit still long enough to realize this. Read and ponder the implications of this particular devotional and your heart will find great solace.

Years ago, I was given Morning and Evening devotions as a gift. I still have it, though it is somewhat tattered. I would highly recommend it to you along with Oswald Chamber's My Utmost For His Highest. 

“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  John 4:14

He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore. The believer is not the man whose days are weary for want of comfort, and whose nights are long from absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in religion such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is content and happy. Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, he will meet the “friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow beneath the Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord. The heart is as insatiable as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to overflowing. There is such a fulness in Christ that he alone is the believer’s all. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more—except it be for deeper draughts of the living fountain. In that sweet manner, believer, shalt thou thirst; it shall not be a thirst of pain, but of loving desire; thou wilt find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller enjoyment of Jesus’ love. One in days of yore said, “I have been sinking my bucket down into the well full often, but now my thirst after Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well itself to my lips, and drink right on.” Is this the feeling of thine heart now, believer? Dost thou feel that all thy desires are satisfied in Jesus, and that thou hast no want now, but to know more of him, and to have closer fellowship with him? Then come continually to the fountain, and take of the water of life freely. Jesus will never think you take too much, but will ever welcome you, saying, “Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”

Why Does Jesus Have to Knock on the Church's Door When He's the LORD of the Church?!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

Revival hinges on God's awakening his own people. It is they who have fallen into unbelief, who have mixed themselves with the world. "Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned" (Hosea 7:8). The church has, in essence, lost sight of their raison d'être, their very reason for existence, their purpose. When this happens they retreat into any number of lesser aberrations, none of which truth supports or the Spirit embraces.  

Most often used to share the gospel with the lost, this verse is intended for the church. Jesus is pictured standing outside knocking in order to gain entrance . . . into his own church! How can that be? 

Other questions arise: 1) Is this really the Church? 2) Is Jesus outside the Church, or something else? 3) Why knock?

1. Is This the Church?
Laodicea, where this occurs, was a church. Revelation 3:14 says so. A negative pattern had taken over this group of believers. A first-century sort of materialism had hi-jacked their hearts rendering them spiritually comatose, unresponsive to her very Savior! Because mammon had their hearts, Jesus couldn't. You can't serve both (Luke 16:13). Remember? Sounds so much like the American church that for years we have heard and preached this text precisely with that in mind. 

2. Is Jesus Standing Outside the Church or Something Else?
Well, he's standing at the door. But it would seem that it is actually the Church's heart from which Jesus is excluded. And it is in the heart of the believer that communion with God takes place. When the body of believers gathers in Jesus' name, then their hearts collectively welcome Jesus to the table for loving fellowship. But where other things impose themselves into our hearts, little concern is given to the person of Jesus. His place is relegated to a banner over our doorway reminding us (when we look at it) that Jesus in fact did die for our sins and save us. Memorials aside, we simply get on with life on our own it seems . . . life without Jesus. And few today have caught on to what they have done!

3. Why Does Jesus Have to Knock?
Isn't he the very Life of the Church? Irrespective of their attitude toward him, isn't Jesus still the lifeblood of his body? Well, . . . yes. He is. So, why knock? One argument would be that Jesus (like I once read of the Holy Spirit) is very much a "gentleman" and doesn't barge in on his own unbidden. The ESV Study Bible suggests that Jesus knocks as a master at his own house, expecting his servants to jump up and let him in. Perhaps so. But they are not being very servant like at this point. May I suggest that the act of knocking requires several things: 1) that we be alert to hear Jesus when he does knock. 2) Sitting down in loving communion with your servants is not best preceded by pounding on the door and demanding to be let in. And 3) knocking forces contrition. True believers may feel that lump in their throats, that knot in their stomachs, that guilt for not having realized sooner that Jesus wasn't even in the room! 

If this means anything to you, please let it mean that 1) you'll repent of your own hardheartedness, and 2) that you'll commit yourself to praying that Jesus will knock on churches all across this nation. Only as the Body of Christ yearns for communion with Jesus will they be in a position to cry out for more God-exposure, more light, more repentance, and more salvation. 

Will you join me in this cry for revival?

Christian: You FRUSTRATED?

Frustrated?

Your Christian life discourage you?

Much of it comes from ignorance. What kind? Well, the kind similar to a man standing in a bread line when he has $1,000,000 in his bank account! Why would he live as though he had nothing? Yet, much Christian dissatisfaction comes for the same reason. We wrestle and struggle and fight to secure what we already have!? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Bottom line: it’s unbelief. For example, read the following from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotions. If God has already accepted us believers IN JESUS CHRIST, then it’s not what WE do either way. Right? Read on . . .

"Accepted in the beloved." Ephesians 1:6

What a state of privilege! It includes our justification before God, but the term “acceptance” in the Greek means more than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine complacence, nay, even of divine delight. [complacence here means “to be pleased with”] How marvellous that we, worms, mortals, sinners, should be the objects of divine love! But it is only “in the beloved.”

Some Christians seem to be accepted in their own experience, at least, that is their apprehension. When their spirit is lively, and their hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so high, so heavenly-minded, so drawn above the earth! But when their souls cleave to the dust, they are the victims of the fear that they are no longer accepted. If they could but see that all their high joys do not exalt them, and all their low despondencies do not really depress them in their Father’s sight!

Rejoice then, believer, in this: thou art accepted “in the beloved.” Thou lookest within, and thou sayest, “There is nothing acceptable here!” But look at Christ, and see if there is not everything acceptable there.

·       Thy sins trouble thee; but God has cast thy sins behind his back, and thou art accepted in the Righteous One.

·       Thou hast to fight with corruption, and to wrestle with temptation, but thou art already accepted in him who has overcome the powers of evil.

·       The devil tempts thee; be of good cheer, he cannot destroy thee, for thou art accepted in him who has broken Satan’s head.

Know by full assurance thy glorious standing. Even glorified souls are not more accepted than thou art. They are only accepted in heaven “in the beloved,” and thou art even now accepted in Christ after the same manner. 

So, if we're already accepted in Christ (the Beloved) don't try to earn it. He did that already. Live in it. Live knowing that more than $1,000,000 is your account. The priceless blood of Jesus Christ secures it all!

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