{"id":26618,"date":"2015-07-06T00:20:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T04:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=26618"},"modified":"2015-07-05T19:08:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-05T23:08:59","slug":"dont-complain-instead-know-that-i-am-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/06\/dont-complain-instead-know-that-i-am-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Complain&#8230;Instead Know That I Am God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13840\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg\" alt=\"SeekingHimLogo\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg 560w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008080;\">Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008080;\">He is the faithful God, <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008080;\">keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008080;\">of those who love Him and keep His commands. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008080;\">Deuteronomy 7:9<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The context surrounding this verse is speaking to the Israelites about the Promised Land\u2014the Promised Land that took the Israelites five books in the Bible to get to. \u00a0It isn&#8217;t until Joshua that we finally see these travelers enter into the promise of God. Many are familiar with the story of the Israelites. \u00a0I&#8217;ve heard it said that the journey they took should have only taken 11 days. \u00a0However, their journey took them 40 years.<\/p>\n<p>How does one take an 11 day journey and turn it into a 40 year journey? \u00a0Simple. \u00a0With God it&#8217;s all about timing&#8230;His timing. Deuteronomy 7:9 starts off, &#8220;Know therefore that the Lord your God is God&#8230;&#8221;. \u00a0God decides when we are ready for something. But often how we choose to look at our circumstances effects how long something takes. \u00a0The Israelites complained and complained and complained. \u00a0{They loved to do them some complaining!}<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Numbers 11:1a says, &#8220;Now the people complained about their hardships&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Exodus 15:24a says, &#8220;So the people grumbled&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Exodus 16:2a says, &#8220;In the desert the whole community grumbled&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Exodus 17:2a says, &#8220;So they quarreled&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From all the complaining they did, one would have never guessed that God would free them from captivity. \u00a0I mean, that&#8217;s kind of big! \u00a0I myself have never been physically enslaved, but I would imagine it&#8217;s a horrible predicament to be in. Yet, and still, they complained.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the deal: <strong><em>God doesn&#8217;t forget His promises<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Solomon said it this way,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8230;O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth &#8211;<br \/>\nYou who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants<br \/>\nwho continue wholeheartedly in Your way.<br \/>\n2 Chronicles 6:14<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t need to complain. \u00a0We do it because it is an easy habit to start. \u00a0However, complaining focuses on the negative while praise focuses on the positive. \u00a0Anytime we choose to complain, we just as easily could have chosen to praise. \u00a0Praising isn&#8217;t overlooking the bad or just ignoring it. \u00a0It&#8217;s simply focusing on the better things in life. \u00a0Just like complaining is simply focusing on the \u2018worser\u2019 things in life. \u00a0God has done so many things for us, why not focus on those things rather than the things that are wrong. \u00a0And pray. \u00a0Philippians 4:6 says,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Do not be anxious about anything,<br \/>\nbut in everything,<br \/>\nby prayer and petition,<br \/>\nwith thanksgiving,<br \/>\npresent your requests to God.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of the Israelites complaining about the fact that they had no water, they should have done as Moses did and prayed. Out of all of those people (a whole community), one person prayed. \u00a0One. \u00a0The nation had a negative focus. \u00a0God is faithful and follows through with His promises.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;\">Trust Him. \u00a0<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;\">Do not complain, but pray. \u00a0<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;\">Then&#8230; wait. <\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;\">And that doesn&#8217;t mean complain while you are waiting. <\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;\">It means wait.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Lord, help us to keep our eyes focused on You. \u00a0Let us not forget all the good that You have done for us. \u00a0I know that it is so easy to complain about the things that we don&#8217;t like in our lives or the things that are &#8220;wrong&#8221;, but this does not glorify You. \u00a0Why should we draw attention to the negative in our lives when drawing attention to You should be our number one goal? People aren&#8217;t going to be drawn to You by hearing about all we do not have&#8230;but rather hearing about all that You have done for us. \u00a0Thank You, Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands. Deuteronomy 7:9 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 * The context surrounding this verse is speaking to the Israelites about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3146,3367,3154,9108,2069,7454,2233,3174],"class_list":["post-26618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ahmee-bronaugh","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-deuteronomy-79","tag-dont-complain","tag-god-is-faithful","tag-god-keeps-his-promises","tag-philippians-46","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6Vk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26618"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26620,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26618\/revisions\/26620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}