I have stilled and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with its mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:2)

Do everything without complaining or arguing (Philippians 2:14)

Last night Pam and I watched Sunday’s sermon at Bethany on YouTube while we deconstructed our Christmas tree.  We missed the service because our entire family converged on Richmond, Virginia to celebrate the New Year with our daughter Amanda. Amanda is a nurse on the cardiac unit at Virginia Commonwealth Hospital and had to work over Christmas holiday.

Sam Harbin from Lancaster Bible College was our guest speaker, although he isn’t really a guest at the church.  He’s family.  He and his wife Elaine have blessed Bethany countless times over the past few years with his preaching, wisdom, and gracious spirit.

Sam preached a really timely message from Psalm 131 entitled “Living with Your Unanswered Questions.” The Cliffs Notes summary of the sermon is that as finite beings, there are many things that we do not and cannot understand about the circumstances that surround us. But as believers we can rest in the sovereignty and goodness of God.  And, as the verse above says, we can learn to still and quiet ourselves. Like a young child sits contentedly on her mother’s lap, so we too can experience comfort and confidence in the strong arms of our loving Father.  We may not understand or even like what’s happening around us, but we can rest, knowing that God will ultimately redeem our pain. A better day is coming when everything will set everything right.

I say this is timely, because recently I’ve been grumbling and complaining.  Not openly, so that others would know, but in my head.  I grumble to God and get overly frustrated about simple things that don’t go my way.  It’s embarrassing, but somehow, I’ve developed the inner disposition of a pouting toddler, as if I’m entitled for my world to function smoothly.

All this kind of came to a head on Monday on our trip back from Richmond. We were part of that mammoth shutdown along the I-95 corridor. We left Richmond at 9:15 AM and as we headed north, the weather quickly deteriorated from wet roads, to slush, to treacherous ice-rutted lanes of traffic.  After going 40 miles we came to a standstill… for hours about 3 miles south of Exit 118. Well, it wasn’t exactly a complete standstill.  We would inch ahead around stuck cars and spinning tractor trailers and then suddenly Things would open up for a hundred yards. Then we’d sit for another 20 minutes.  We had no way of knowing that the traffic wasn’t moving forward at all, but simply compacting together. Miles ahead 3 trucks had crashed and jack-knifed cutting off all progress. But finally, by the grace of God, we made it up to the exit by slowly inching our way in and out of standing traffic. We squeezed in between the gap between 2 idling tractor trailers and drove up the snow packed ramp.  From there we used US 1 to get around the bottlenecks. We traveled about 25 mph on single lane unplowed roads around fallen trees and abandoned vehicles for many miles.  Eventually we were got back on 95 just south of Washington D.C. and cautiously drove home.  A trip that normally takes 4 ½ hours took 11 ½!  Boy were we glad to pull into our driveway.

I was so proud of the family, especially the kids.  Things got tense a time or two, but all in all, everyone maintained a great attitude. But I’m not so sure I would have, if we got stuck overnight on the interstate without food and water like hundreds of other cars did in that massive 40+ mile backup.

So, as I listened to Sam’s message last night, it all clicked in my head. It was like hearing it for the first time all over again.  There are so many things that we don’t understand that are way above our pay grade.  Asking why isn’t wrong but it often misses the point.  In this life, God doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing, a trouble-free life, or that we won’t get stuck on the interstate for 11 hours.  He never promised us that. We don’t get a pass on daily frustration, sickness, suffering or even death. Instead, He offers us something much better- Himself.  In God’s presence there is refuge from the storm.  He gives us the security of his presence, a comforting lap to rest on, and the promise that we never walk alone. He offers relationship. And that’s better than a trouble free life.

In all of life we have a choice.  We can complain or we can rest in Jesus… but we can’t do both.

Sam’s sermon starts at 41:10. Check it out!