Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Quieting A Complaining Heart

PSALM 34:1 – I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

THEME OF THE DAY. QUIETING A COMPLAINING HEART. Everyone does it. Even Christians. Yet it is never right; should never be tolerated; and for the Christian, the stakes are higher when this sin is present. I am referring to the sin of complaining. The reason why the stakes are higher in the life of a Christian is because complaining is a direct shaking of the fist in the face of our sovereign God who orchestrates all things in our lives for His glory and our good, even those things that tempt us to complain. If we want to get a good insight on how serious the sin of complaining is before our watching God, take our Bibles and read the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapters eleven through fourteen. If we do, and heed the illustration from God’s people of old complaining, we will never take a light position on the sin of complaining again. But let’s move into the Psalms and find some practical help to quiet our hearts when tempted to complain about anything or anyone.

In today’s scripture, David proclaims two activities he will do in relationship with his God. He will bless the Lord and sing praises to Him. When it comes to living the Christian life, we are keenly aware of these responsibilities and privileges. We, too, are called to the same spiritual activities. But don’t miss the other parts of the verse because they are the preventatives to having a complaining heart. When does David bless the Lord? At all times. When does David praise Him? Continually. So, if David is occupied with blessing and praising the Lord at all times and continually, the natural conclusion is no time exists for a complaining heart. If we are occupied fully with something, there is no room or time for anything else. A great illustration of this is found in the New Testament with the command of the Apostle Paul to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). One cannot walk in the fullness and filling of the Holy Spirit if we are walking in the fullness and filled with ourselves. And this applies in the sin of complaining. We cannot continually and at all times live with a heart blessing and praising the Lord while having a complaining heart focused on ourselves or circumstances.

However, I know what might be mulling over some of our heads right now – “Pastor Jim, sounds good, but you don’t live my life. I am so busy, so full of demands, so full of potential circumstances and challenges tempting me to complain that I cannot possibly live on the spiritual plane David did of blessing and praising the Lord at all times and continually.” I hear you, but we cannot allow such “spiritual passes” or excuses. Why? David was a sinner like us, yet, the enabling grace of God allowed him to live blessing and praising the Lord at all times and continually. And don’t forget the way to do this is by the filling of the Holy Spirit which is a command and God never gives a command that He also doesn’t give the strength the obey the command.

So, we cannot let ourselves off the hook on this instruction to quiet a complaining heart. But to ensure we don’t end today’s nugget with an exhortation to do something without the direction to do the something, here is an application to live a life of continually blessing and praising the Lord and quieting a complaining heart. It actually isn’t something to do. It is a call to something to think on and develop as a daily, even moment-by-moment mindset – remember the sovereignty of God. When tempted to complain about anyone or anything, immediately remember the sovereign God has directed this person and circumstance to us. Learn to see everyone and everything through the lens of divine sovereign purpose, and watch how we will develop a lifestyle of consistently blessing and praising the Lord, and defeating the sin of a complaining heart.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to look always to You and Your blessings in my life, not myself and the difficulties in my life.”

QUOTE: “If we take time to focus on God’s goodness to us, we will be led to a life of worship with no room to complain.”