Asking God what we have when we
have nothing—when it seems that way—requites a predictable response. We might
quickly be reminded, knowledge of God is everything. It will be everything at
the end of our lives as we traverse the narrow chasm into eternity and it is
everything in the here and now; though it often might seem there is nothing.
Transforming nothing into
everything occurs at the flick of a switch in our minds. We remind the evil
one, by the Word of God, that we have everything in God and are everything to
God.
Recognising The Pride Of Complaint
Whilst each one of us is prone to
complaint, both justified and unjustified, each complaint is a tidy rebellion
against the Lord. Sometimes we need to complain to understand, and in that to
realise through repentance, just how needy of God we really are.
With the freedom to complain we
are loved by God, for he allows us to find nothing in the presence of
everything, and we are free to go on in our complaint however long we like. In
freedom we roam far from the presence of the living Lord. But we entreat no
blessing to ourselves in this frame of mind; a heart devoid of gratitude.
But the truth is we will still
complain. We will still find space for our thoughts within such waste. It’s our
humanity showing through. And especially pungent complaints have us despairing.
It’s still pride. It’s still finding fault with the arrangements of the Giver
and Taker (Job 1:21) of all things in life. And many manner and circumstances
of pride are selectable.
Defeating The Pride Within Complaint
With A Thought
Just as our pride came about
through a meld of rebellious and needy feelings and thoughts—a state of being that
redeems us nothing—we can defeat that pride that persists in the form of
complaint with feelings of unity with God, and thoughts aligned to everything
about us beyond the complaint. That everything remains to be chosen and
redeemed by us is a miracle coaxing us away from the complaint.
In the form of vision we begin to
see more broadly and tunnel vision disappears.
We may battle shame for falling
into the devil’s trap once again. But it’s not God’s will that we suffer such
indignity when all we need to do is repent. And we’ve done that by transforming
the nothingness within pride into ‘the everything’ that’s eternally visible. We
defeat pride swiftly in the formation of thoughts for gratitude.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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