Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Isa. 40:27–28
Heavenly Father, nobody likes to be on the other end of a whine. Well, yesterday I put you in that position.
An outside spigot wouldn’t stop running, and the stock market just kept falling; a bee stung my thumb, and bugs munched on my new plants; my schedule got shot, and my attitude went to pot. I was like Israel in route to the Promised Land—complaining about everything. Forgive me, Father.
Here we are, right in the middle of a cultural crisis and conversation about racism, way-far out of the COVID pandemic, with millions of people jobless and clueless about what’s next. Yet I couldn’t see beyond my own nose and navel.
I am SO thankful salvation is by grace, from beginning to end, because otherwise, I have no hope. Father, I repent. In response to new mercies and sufficient grace, turn my whine-fest into neighbor-love.
Help me and my friends know what “faith expressing itself in love” looks like in these coming months. There’s a lot of hard and heart work in front of us. What is the way forward, with regard to dealing with systemic racism in our culture, and lingering sin in our hearts?
We are so glad that you are “the everlasting God,” not only “the Creator of the ends of the earth,” but also sustainer, redeemer, and restorer of all things. In these coming months, bring the Gospel to bear in profound, liberating, transforming ways. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ glorious and grace-full name.