Do You Quarrel With God?
December 22, 2024 · 2:15:01 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
On this Christmas Sunday the pastor rejoices that God did not spare His own Son but sent Him to save us; the torn temple veil now opens the way for every believer to draw near to God. He has just returned from Ukraine, where the war still rages - billboards reading "some wait for the holiday, others wait for a son or father to come home from the front," funeral homes running around the clock, and an air-raid siren that caught him on the road to Lviv. He urges the church to keep praying for Ukraine and to treasure the peace they enjoy in America.
His message is built on two parallel stories - Israel grumbling for water at Rephidim (Exodus 17) and, forty years later, their children doing the very same thing at Meribah (Numbers 20). Both generations quarreled with God instead of trusting Him, and the children even exaggerated and lied about their hardships. Moses, worn down by their complaints, struck the rock twice in disobedience and failed to honor God's holiness, and so he himself never entered the Promised Land.
The pastor adds a personal story of finding euros at the Warsaw airport and the pull to keep them, before he returned the money to its owner - a living reminder that "all unrighteousness is sin." He names the small everyday lies we have grown used to and, as the year closes, calls the church to examine their words and conduct, to repent, and to ask God to set a guard over their lips in the new year.
Key Points
- Christmas is good news because God did not spare His Son but gave Him to save us, tearing the veil so we can come near.
- Keep praying for Ukraine; the church in America should never take its peace and safety for granted.
- Israel quarreled with God instead of trusting Him, and their children repeated the same sin forty years later.
- Grumbling easily slides into exaggeration and lies about our circumstances - and all unrighteousness is sin.
- Even Moses was kept from the Promised Land when he disobeyed and failed to show God's holiness before the people.
- End the year by examining your words and conduct, then repent and ask God to guard your lips.
- When we quarrel with God or with one another we forfeit His blessing; be truthful and honest instead.
Devotional
It is easy to slide from a grateful heart into grumbling, and from grumbling into quietly bending the truth to justify our discontent. Israel did it at the rock, and we do it too whenever we tell God our life is unbearable while forgetting His mercies. This Christmas, let the One who left heaven's glory to save you silence every complaint. Ask Him to forgive the careless, untrue words of this year and to set a guard over your lips in the next. A heart that stops quarreling with God is finally free to rejoice in Him.
“God did not spare His own Son, that He might save us.”
“When we quarrel with God we lose His blessing; when we trust Him, the rock pours out water.”
“All unrighteousness is sin - even the small, polite lies we tell every day.”
