A Culture Of Complaint

Read: Lamentations 3:34-42

Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?

Lamentations 3:37

WHY DOES GOD let bad things happen? It’s a common question with an abundance of answers, most with multiple layers. We go through all sorts of theological gymnastics to make sure we keep God and evil separate while maintaining his sovereignty over the world. He doesn’t cause evil, yet he is far more powerful than any evil thing. Somewhere in between those anchor points, things get fuzzy.

Still, when bad things happen, the human heart is tempted to accuse him or fate or something else of either allowing these tragedies or singling us out for them. The result is some sort of grievance—usually about circumstances themselves but also with offense toward God. The world is drenched in a culture of complaint against divine orchestration.

We have to discipline ourselves against that. The world carries the bitterness of disappointment, with eyes adjusted to the dark and focusing on everything that’s wrong. But we see with new eyes, don’t we? We no longer look at the glass as half empty, or even as one percent empty, nor do we see a cross and assume disaster. We look not at what God hasn’t done yet but what he has done already and what he has promised to do. That gives us ample reason to live with hearts full of hope and expectation. It also gives us the wisdom to know that hardships don’t come because God turned his back. He does not author evil, but he has allowed it for a time. Our trials come with his permission. We are encouraged to overcome them but not to complain about them. God has never botched his dealings with us.

The best remedy against a pervasive spirit is to choose to walk in the opposite spirit. In this case, that means filling your heart and your mouth with praise, even as others around you are filling theirs with discontentment. If our trials come with his permission, then they will work to our advantage. For people who love him, all things do (Romans 8:28). When we remember this, we are freed from the nagging suspicion that God has let us down. At the Cross he proved that he didn’t abandon us and never will. That seeming catastrophe turned into the world’s greatest blessing. Whatever we face today, we face it with him, not in spite of him. Everything in our lives is given, ordained, intended, allowed—any word that respects God’s sovereign will—for a very good reason. Embrace the goodness of his heart in every situation. He is orchestrating your life well.

PRAYER

Father, forgive my discontentment. I’ve often focused on the Good Fridays of my life without seeing the Resurrection Sundays. Thank you for turning every tragic story into good news and every trial into blessing, and help me live with that expectation. Amen.

REFLECTION

Have you ever asked God in frustration, “Why me?” If so, what were the circumstances? How might he have been working those circumstances for your good?

Further reading: Psalm 77

In sickness give us healing,

In doubt thy clear revealing,

That praise to thee be given

In earth as in thy heaven.

“A BRIGHTER DAWN IS BREAKING,” PERCY DEARMER