Multitude Monday

Martyn Lloyd-Jones ~

"We tend to take all the gifts and pleasures and happiness and the joy without saying much to God. We take our health and strength, our food and clothing and our loved ones, all for granted; but the moment anything goes wrong we start grumbling and complaining and we say 'Why should God do this to me, why should this happen to me?' How slow we are to thank and swift to grumble."

Guilty! I so often do this and am ashamed.  Even here on Multitude Monday, I give thanks for all the wonderful things, but rarely for the hard things.  That's where my faith waivers; when things are difficult.  

Can I thank Him for the troubled times?  For the stale times?  For the times when things are crashing down around me and I truly wish I could run away?  Can I praise Him when things are stark and bleak and it seems as if the sun will never shine again?

Why is my faith so weak and my flesh so frail that I can't even trust for one second when things aren't going my way?  I take and take from the Lord and throw a first-class temper tantrum when faced with difficulty.

I long to be able to say as Job did, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."  This man who endured suffering that you and I may never see could say those words.  He faced the loss of his entire family, fortune and reputation and yet, even the smallest inconvenience causes me to whine.

Forgive me, Lord.

Psalm 51:10 (ESV) ~

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.