And here’s a second offense: You fill the place of worship with your whining and sniveling because you don’t get what you want from God. (Malachi 2:13 The Message)
Fear Not… Then Stop Complaining
I had a ‘friend’ in college who sat behind me in Sociology. He approached me after class one evening because he had noticed that mostly all I did in class was sigh and shake my head. We began a tradition of grabbing coffee sometimes and complaining about how bad the class, and the premise behind the class was.
When the class ended, so did our coffee time. We had nothing even resembling a relationship… all we did was complain together.
Do our prayers sound like that to God at times? The emphasis of Biblical prayers is giving thanks. (Insert here TOO many verses to list!) But when we pray it is easy for us, like Malachi’s flock, to mostly complain. We complain about the weather by couching it in a request. We complain about our health by couching it in a request. We complain about politics by couching it in a request. We complain about the apparent success of God’s enemies by couching it in a request. We complain about the past by couching it in a request. We complain about the present by couching it in a request. We complain about the future by couching it in a request.
Try praying for a few days emphasizing thanks.
Fear not, then stop complaining.