Complaining is the opposite of patience. Complaining puts the focus of your life squarely on one person – you! There are many ways to complain, some subtle and some painfully obvious. Ultimately complaining means that God is unreliable and not worthy of trust. Ugh! Not a pretty picture.
Complaining indicates that you know what is best about what should be happening in your life. The truth is that you do a really poor job of caring for yourself. So when someone says you need to take care of yourself first, you are getting really bad advice.
So instead of being consumed about what is wrong with your life, your world, your job, your spouse, your children, your sports team, your church, God calls you to patience.
Patience is accepting problems without complaining, trusting that God will care for you.
Patience is believing that God really does work everything out for your good. Thus, patience is the first step to solving problems in a way that brings honor to God and not to yourself.
Prayer for patience:
Dear God, you are always patient and loving with me. Please help me to be patient, too. I know that you cause everything to happen for my good, and you work things out at the right time. Help me to trust you and not complain when things are difficult. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Adapted from Get Wisdom! by Ruth Younts.
One thought on “Patience and complaining don’t mix”
This was very much needed in my life right now. Amazing how is grace and love for us comes through so many outlets. Thank you for writing and posting this.
Patience is one skill I have YET to master but our God is a loving God and will continue to show me the way each and every day.