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03
Aug '15
To remain, just complain!
03
Aug '15
The enemy of our souls has done an amazing job at taking the things that he knows will hurt us the most and disguising them as normal behavior. My case in point is the act of complaining. I don’t know about you, but for me complaining is one of the easiest things to do. It is so much easier to find the negative in a situation, the stuff that rubs me the wrong way, than it is to accentuate the positive. Maybe that is why God spends a lot of time in His Word warning us about the effects of complaining. If you read the accounts of the Israelites in the wilderness, God makes it pretty clear how He feels about whiners. I’m thankful that by His grace He hasn’t consumed me by fire as He did in Numbers 11:1-3, but it is also that amazing grace that makes me want to please the heart of God and complaining never will. It is interesting that the word murmur or complain actually means “to remain.” The word praise means “to raise.” So God has given us a choice, as He so often does. When we are in the middle of a circumstance that we don’t necessarily enjoy, we can complain and therefore “remain” right where we are, or we can praise and “raise” ourselves right out of there-straight to the victory He has for us. God has called us to be different, to react differently, to rejoice always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). So the next time you are tempted to complain, make the choice to raise yourself out of that circumstance instead with a little PRAISE!
