WHINING TO GOD

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you couldn’t help yourself, you just started whining to God?  I know I have.

“I don’t wanna be in rush hour in a blizzard with only a box of donut crumbs for sustenance!”

“I don’t wanna be standing in the unemployment line!”

“I don’t wanna be in the hospital with a broken leg ’cause I was rollerblading at age 60!”

Okay, that last one isn’t true.  It was just a broken bone in the foot whilst walking the dog and dodging oncoming traffic.

Anyway, as uncomfortable as it is to admit that I can indeed be a whiner, I know many of you will come forward and admit that you are also whiners.  And if you don’t, well, you’re better people than me, Gunga Din.

There is indeed a point here.  When lingering in the Psalms, this incident about the Jews’ captivity really stuck with me.  The captors asked them to sing a song of Zion, and they responded, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4).  There it is -- “I don’t wanna be captive in another country!”  Can’t say as I blame them, it sounds really horrible.

However, fast-forward many centuries and compare it with the Paul and Silas when they were captive in Philippian jail (Acts 16:25; Philippians 1:12-14).  What if they had whined to God, “I don’t wanna be in this jail?  Do I have to?”  It’s possible God would have told them, “No, you don’t have to.  You GET to.  You get to have the privilege in your confinement of pointing that guard, those other prisoners, to ME, to salvation.”

Ahh, it’s making sense now.  Paul and Silas were confined in jail, but by their joyful witness, a guard was saved.  Paul understood that, even though he might be in bondage, the word of God never has been, and never will be, imprisoned (2 Timothy 2:9).  Paul’s temporary physical bondage led a person in spiritual bondage to sin to be freed from it.

Thank You, my Father, for showing me that whining accomplishes nothing, but praising and glorifying You accomplishes everything. You’ve given me a firm foundation to know that if You choose to place me in a “foreign-land captivity and/or prison” circumstance in the future, it could very well be a divine appointment to spiritual freedom for someone else.  Thank You for scriptural examples of Your purpose at work in Your children.