One child complains about the other: ‘Mom, he hit me!’ She’s convinced it’s her brother’s fault, that he ought to be punished, that she should have Mom’s sympathy and be absolved of all responsibility. But her brother is equally certain: ‘She started it. She took my toy.’
We grow older, but not always wiser! It ‘just happened’, we say, then proceed to blame people and circumstances. We dance to the tune but we don’t want to pay the piper, so we complain about our consequences, saying it wasn’t our fault.
This is not the way God does business, and it doesn’t work. ‘Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?’ (v. 39 NIV). What works with God is this:
First, acknowledge your wrong behavior. Someone else may have initiated it, but your part in it is your responsibility. Plus, complaining offends God. ‘The people complained in the hearing of the Lord, and his anger was aroused’ (Numbers 11:1 NIV). Leave other people’s sin to God and deal with your own.
Second, look at your behaviors; ‘Let us examine our ways.’ Look beyond this specific event to how you typically act in similar situations. Learn from it, so you can change!
Third, determine whether your ways really work; ‘Let us test them.’ Analyze, observe and judge how well your ‘ways’ have actually worked or not!
Finally, if they don’t work, change them; ‘Let us return to the Lord’ (Lamentations 3:40 NIV). Repeating wrong behaviors guarantees continued failure. Returning to doing things God’s way, brings the end of frustration and the beginning of joy and fulfilment!
