The Seat of Complaining Lies in Lies

“With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.  I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.”

~Psalm 142:1-2

So where do you turn to when you are overwhelmed with life; the big and little things? I confess that my first thoughts are typically toward talking to someone about my problems...friends, husband, my blog or facebook first and then…God. All too often I express my frustrations verbally before thinking to go to my Father; the one who lovingly made me and knows me and has strength and power to overcome all of my obstacles.

Here are some words I really appreciate from a pastor named Steven Furtick on the subject of complaining:

“One of the biggest mistakes we can make in our effort to cut back on complaints is our effort to conceal them.  Don’t conceal your complaints. Instead, convert them into something constructive.If we simply try to reduce our complaints by biting our tongues and bottling our emotions, we’re bound to take out our frustration on the wrong person at the wrong time for the wrong thing. It always comes out sideways.  When you feel the urge to complain, remember:

• Your inclination to address an issue is not a sin. The sin of complaining happens when I miss the opportunity to act on something because I’m too busy griping about it.

• Maybe the most detrimental thing about complaining is that it paralyzes your ability to do something about the need you see. It reduces you to a victim. Stop whining that someone should do something about that. Instead, ask the Lord: what would you have me to do about that?

• Convert your complaint into something constructive. 

• The reality of grace invalidates any claim to complaint you may stake. 

• The basis of all complaining is one of the following two erroneous beliefs:  1)I deserve something good I didn’t get.  2) I don’t deserve something bad I did get.

Complaining takes your perspective out of the realm of the unmerited, unlimited, inexhaustible grace of Jesus. The spirit of complaining squares it’s shoulders and demands what it deserves.  I promise you – you don’t want what you really deserve.
God loves you. He wants to bless you. He has every intention of being good to you.  But anything short of eternal torment and separation from God in hell is a blessing. No matter how unfair your current situation may be, it’s a lot better than what you deserve. Never forget that.
The next time you’re tempted to complain, check your perspective. You should be in hell.  That ought to put your complaint in its place.” 

~S. Furtick

So once again, how is the challenge going? I know that I was tempted to put some undisclosed amount of dollars in my tin can today because I had a rough afternoon and it is all a blur to me now. I didn’t even think to track my complaining and I figure I must have done it! So I will put a few dollars in for good measure . Anyone else having trouble remembering to control their tongue?

~Jaime Scharf