“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”

Philippians 2: 14-26

Grumbling brings everyone down. It usually involves looking in the past for things to grumble about. It involves a mind set, which will destroy your peace and evaporate your joy in the Lord. Instead of leaving everything in His safe hands, we bring memories out of the grave and apportion blame and sadness.

Perhaps we are feeling aggrieved with someone, and indulge our negativity in thinking of the bad stuff they did to us, or things they didn’t do to help us. We forget the sovereign power and will of God, and try to decipher events, using our own faulty wisdom and limited minds. This way of thinking is very destructive. We boost ourselves up, while tearing the other down. It is a classic strategy of the evil one, and we have to find a way to resist him and the fallen propensity of our own minds.

I know these things, because they have happened to me, and have caused my life to be very much wrecked. Our minds can go into an illness phase, and we can find ourselves thinking, feeling, saying, and doing things we would not normally do. It can be like a storm and it seems no one can stop it. There are people who wrestle with this weakness all their lives. How can it be put right?

Only God can do this. We can educate ourselves about all sorts of things, but only God can deal with us and our minds, which are very powerful and drive us along. We have to wait for the storm to blow over, and hope and pray that what we think and do at that time, is not irreversible. Only God can save us from the wreckage and put us right again.

It is so important that we process our grievances and grumbles in a godly way, and not allow then to take over our thoughts. Satan is most virulent against those we love most and we must not let him in. He hates us with a perfect hatred, and we need God to stand guard over us and protect us. God is over all, and promises that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purposes. Things might seem hopeless, and we think the enemy has got the upper hand, but he can never do that.

Trusting in the Lord is the absolute bottom line and depending on Him, even in the storm when you think He is not close to you. Nothing is outside His will and we hang on to hope. Even the faintest glimmer is enough to see us through. We hold on to Him, because He is holding onto us. Rejoice in the Lord, always and trust in the previous promises that are all through His Word. If our eyes are fixed on Jesus, then we will not be grumbling and complaining. Jesus is the author and perfected of our faith and He has done it all for us. The price is actually paid, so let us enter in….