Pastor's Blog
Grumble. Grumble. Grumble. Posted 3.18.2010Grumbling. I have honed it to an art form. Often, the things I grumble most about are things where I lack full disclosure. I don’t really know the whole story.
I mean, remember the plant thief? Grumble. Who would steal plants from brand new church landscaping? Turns out. That was the wrong question. It’s not “who” but more precisely “what.” We caught our criminal. I have sentenced him to death. Hired guns are on the loose to make sure that our plants remain secure. Death to the traitor! Don’t get too upset, the criminal is a gopher. We caught him red-handed. Or perhaps I should say that we caught the criminal red-mouthed, with the plant in his mouth dragging it underground!
So I guess I shouldn’t have grumbled against the mysterious plant bandit. I just had to look as far as the curse is found. The appetite of the gopher is definitely part of that Genesis 3 curse.
But then in a few days I grumbled again. Oh, I had all the facts this time. But that was not going to stop my grumbling habit. Somebody spilled soda into my keyboard in my office. What? That’s right, Diet Dr. Pepper to be precise. So then they washed it out in the sink (hey, it’s already wet, right?).
Not a bad solution. Grumble. But I needed the keyboard to do some Friday afternoon work. Best to get it dry quickly. So my space heater was fired up and used as a dryer.
Not only do I grumble when I don’t know all the facts, but I grumble when I witness carelessness and stupidity. Now the keyboard incident is pretty justified, right? I mean a sticky keyboard – that’s worth a grumble. Or two. I can justify a grouse or a gripe. It comes so easy and feels so good.
Why do I always expect that perfect day, a problem free day? It is because I cannot trust the sovereignty of God in my life. I should expect the unexpected and trust God no matter what. I mean, it’s not like I just discovered the curse of Genesis 3.
It must focus on godliness. Not on my trials. I must look for ways that God is at work to teach me. More patience. Less griping. More longsuffering. Less grousing. Grumbling is not a means to godliness because it makes me the ruler of my life. Where’s the sovereign God? If He wanted the keyboard dry, He could have arranged itIf wanted to protect our new plant life, He could done so. Will I just His work in every aspect of life? If I won’t, I’m destined for grumbling. Only God can rule. I must submit.
And that keyboard? After I cleaned up all the soda I spilled, I decided to dry it with the space heater at my feet. After six or seven melted keys (more grumbling) I ordered a new one. Idiot.
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Comments
3/21/10 9:01pm
There's lots of advertising these days about gold investing, but some things are better than gold: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had greif in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." Keep on keeping on, Bro. Jim. God is conforming you tom His image!