Prayer & Contentment

It’s DAY #13, of our “Loving to Talk to God” Bible Memory Challenge! If you looked ahead at the verses, you will know that the verses today and tomorrow are both pretty short to memorize.

Didn’t have a chance to join us till today? All the posts are still up and you can go through them anytime. Pick up the Memory Verse List here.

Our prevailing thought to go with this verse today is, Prayer can make us complain less.

DAY #13 MEMORY VERSE

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. James 5:13

Prayer can make us complain less.

You will notice for our thought today, that I didn’t say not complain at all. I said complain less, because we are human and complaining is part of what we do, but I do think that praying daily helps reduce the level at which we complain.

I’m not sure about you, but when I talk to the Lord in prayer, it sooths my complaining attitude. Especially when I bring worship as part of my prayer. When I am worshipping and praising such a Mighty God, it kind of puts my life into perspective. He is the Potter. I am the clay. He died for me. Surely, I can squash my complaining attitude.

I’ve mentioned already during this Memory Challenge several things that go with prayer like peanut butter and jelly. This is yet another one of them. Praise and prayer go together. They are great friends.

Options

Look what James says in our memory verse. He is telling us that if we are suffering, then we should pray. He is telling us if we are happy, then we should sing songs.

Many people go through trying circumstances in their lives that may leave them weary, emotionally torn, and weighted down. But, the thing is, if we have hurts, concerns, sickness, suffering, or hardships of any kind, we don’t have to whine about it. We don’t have to grumble about it. We don’t have to mutter under our breath about it. We don’t have to curse God about it. We don’t’ have to complain about it.

Prayer is the better option!

Extremes

I love that our memory verse covers the extremes of how we are feeling.

I think of the Apostle Paul, and how he learned the art of not complaining through his highs and lows. He learned to be content.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Philippians 4:11, 12

Consequences

I think we tend to think that complaining is a little thing just because everyone does it. But really it isn’t a little thing. I’m always reminded of that when I think about what happened to the children of Israel when they were wandering around the wilderness complaining in the Old Testament.

I studied that chapter in Numbers 11, when I wrote a devotional on different aspects of the wind several years ago. And that story of the Wind and the Quails has stuck with me since. The people were given manna to eat in the wilderness, but they wanted fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. Oh my! Let’s just say the penalty for complaining was very high. There were consequences.

They complained so much that even a great man such as Moses got into one of those, Kill me, Just kill me now moods. (Numbers 11:15)

The Better Choice

Our verse today is a short one, but can really be a lifesaver to recall when we are tempted to complain about something. We can choose prayer over complaining.

Think of it as on a tray being offered to you.

Would you like complaining or prayer to go with that hardship?

We have to remember when we constantly choose complaining off of the tray that some bad tasting side dishes will come with it, and some real heart burn will be involved.

We will alienate people we love. We will annoy friends and coworkers and they will begin to distance themselves from us. We will be intentionally left out of conversations because people just don’t like talking with complainers. Our real concerns will be taken less seriously because they will be seen as complaints. We will hurt the cause of Christ. We will crush other people’s happiness. We might even make others complain after they hear our complaining.

I’ve heard that complaining is bad for you because of what it physically does in your brain, but I also read somewhere that there was a study that said that if someone listens to complaining from other people for 30 minutes or more that it will affect that person’s brain as well. I’m like…what?! I need to be more careful. I don’t want to hurt someone’s brain! I need to do what James said and pray instead.

And what is prayer? It’s talking to God. That’s what we have been learning about all through our Memory Challenge. I’m so glad prayer is there for me when I am tempted to complain because just like other people, I find complaining is easy to do when I am having a bad day or when I have problems in my life. Prayer makes me more content.

EXTRA CHALLENGE: Read Numbers chapter 11.

Do you have any perspective on today’s memory verse (James 5:13)? Leave a reply on this blog post.

Have a lovely day,
Julia

2022 Bible Memory Challenge

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You can find my devotions from the 2020 and 2021 Bible Memory Challenges in my, More Love Please Devotional Collection.