Micah 6:3 My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!

      My gracious and loving Heavenly Father had answered my prayer by giving me what I had asked. I caught myself complaining about the very thing I had asked God to give me. In that moment, I had become an unreasonable complainer. Imagine complaining about getting what was asked for through prayer. I could hear God’s still, soft voice say,  “Norm, you asked Me for this. Why do you not want to do the work you asked for?” In that moment, I realized how pathetic and petulant I was. I repented and asked for forgiveness for my selfishness and set my heart to doing the work that I had asked for.

      Talk about taking God for granted and being a fickle person with an ungrateful heart. The Lord must shake His head sometimes at our irrational reactions to His guidance, which we pray for. I asked myself if I was getting old, and complaints were starting to come easily to my heart. Eccl. 12:1b Honour Him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” We truly are a mess of contradictions. As the Lord said to Cain, “Sin is always waiting to make an entrance into our lives, but we need to resist it.” Gen. 4:7b Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

      The Apostle Paul understood that there was no remedy for sin, and I would take that further by saying there is no remedy for the stupid things sin causes us to do. Paul was a Pharisee who was trained and could boast about keeping the law before his conversion in Christ on his way to Damascus. He knew the effort it took to keep God’s laws and the degree of willpower it took to overcome the power of sin. Rom. 3:20 For no person will be justified freed of guilt and declared righteous in His sight by trying to do the works of the Law. For through the Law we become conscious of sin, and the recognition of sin directs us toward repentance, but provides no remedy for sin. Paul plainly states that there is no human remedy for sin and the foolish choices we make as a result of it. All righteousness comes through Christ alone.

      How am I ever going to become responsible for helping bring the kingdom of God to the earth if I am complaining about how God answers my prayers? Our maturity and sanctification are built in a daily relationship with the Lord. We cannot live on yesterday’s sermons or manna. We need a fresh encounter and a prayer life with our God so that we are renewed every morning. Lam. 3:21 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 22 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

      Every day of the week, we are to die to ourselves as we live in Christ. We have no choice but to pick up our cross and follow the Lord wherever He goes, as He leads His church. The moment I stray from God’s instructions is the moment I start complaining about how I’m feeling. The problem with feelings is that they cannot be trusted because the enemy of our heart knows how to manipulate circumstances that affect the trials we go through. It is by faith in the finished work of the cross and the holy blood of Jesus that sets our hearts and minds straight and in acceptance with what God the Father is doing within our lives. There will always be things to complain about, and some of the issues might be legitimate, but many will be of a dissatisfied heart because we did not get our way, or, in my case, I did get my way and then disrespected the outcome.

      The Lord desires that His kingdom be established on earth, as stated in His prayer, “Father, your Kingdom come, and your will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.” This was and is God’s intention to have His kingdom flourish in this lost world so that the restoration of His creation would come to pass. We need to accept the assignment God gave us to make His will come to pass by becoming a mature person in the Lord. I, for one, need to be grateful for all the blessings God has lavishly given me. I cannot afford to be self-righteous and treat the blessings of God with a callous heart. I cannot put the Lord in a position where He asks me this reasonable question. Micah 6:3 My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you! The code of conduct that I follow must be written by the Holy Spirit, and I need to be grateful by saying, “Thank you, Lord, for the grace that You pour on me each day. Yes, Lord, thank you.