We are a generation of complainers. We complain when things don’t go our way or get what we want; and we complain when we do get what we want or when it does go our way because some arbitrary reason. Just check out any form of social media if you don’t believe me. It is littered with complaints longing to be read, liked, and responded to. I’m sure some of the complaints are warranted, but I’m also doubly sure that most of the complaining is just unintelligible noise.
Today, I want us to look at how God responds to the Prophet Jeremiah’s complaints about doing his job.
“If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan? “(Jeremiah 12:5 NLT)
If you don’t know what the context is at this point in the book, let me fill you in. Jeremiah starts his ministry by being faithful to God and carefully and boldly doing his job to the best of his abilities. The problem is that every time he does his job well, he gets attacked, spat at, and chased out. He was doing everything right and heading in the right direction. But, to Jeremiah, it didn’t seem like it. He was becoming discontent and so he complained.
The passage above is how God replied to Jeremiah. If you didn’t read between the lines here, God essentially says, “What are you complaining about? You haven’t even faced a circumstance that is complaint worthy yet.”
Now chew on that for a moment. When we complain, it’s often because we’re dissatisfied with our perspective on a situation. If we complain in the situation we find ourselves in, how can we ask God to bless us when the situation to get to the place God blesses is even more difficult than the situation we’re complaining about? Instead of complaining, let’s ask God for perspective on our situation.
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