We’ve all seen one, a beautiful sunset going beneath the horizon, and such a sight gives us hope and encouragement to press on toward the horizon’s of our future. But what is our first response when the horizon doesn’t look so beautiful?

The example given by my Church’s pastor, Gregg Matte in his sermon God Provides: Red Sea Crossing, was when the Isrealites were camping at the Red Sea and what was on the horizon was Pharaoh’s armies.(Exodus 14:11-31) And guess what their first response was…

They had just seen God do miraculous things through the ten plagues of Egypt and the first thing they did when adversity was on the horizon was complain.  If you think about it complaining is often our first response to adversity, and why is that? Often it’s because our faith is weak and forgetful, NOT God is weak and forgetful, but it’s our faith that has a hard time remembering God’s provision.

In this sermon, Pastor Gregg also listed the wrong ways to complain and the right ways to complain, which really hit home for me.

 WRONG ways to Complain:

1) Fear and anxiety consume your thoughts and words

2) Focus on short term results

3)Focus on the problem not the Provider

RIGHT ways to Complain:

1) Have a forward thinking faith: God has a reason for short term adversity

2)Subtract sarcasm and Add answers

3) Remember the good of the people outweigh the good of the person

We live in such a complaining culture that it’s hard to approach adversity with a positive attitude and with the faith that God is the Provider. What we have to constantly reminder our-self with daily Bible study and weekly fellowship is that God’s will is ALWAS accompanied by God’s Power AND Provision.

If you want to hear more on this relevant topic click on the following link: God ProvidesRed Sea Crossing