Friends, thanks so much for your prayers while we went to the different gates of the city to declare "There is another King, one called Jesus." The following message is the one the Lord laid on my heart to encourage the saints who came to Charlotte to storm the gates of hell. It is called The Complaint of the Righteous. If you find any merit, please pass it on in your sphere of influence.
The Complaint of the Righteous
As I begin this message, one point of clarification needs to be made. When I mention the complaint of the righteous, I'm not speaking of the murmuring, complaining, and whining associated with the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. On many occasions God's people wore out Moses and exasperated the Lord to the breaking point. So when I speak of the complaint of the righteous, I'm not speaking of tempting God as a stiff-necked, rebellious people who through unbelief, doubt, and worry disobey God and forfeit their destiny by losing their vision and mission.
THE COMPLAINT OF JOB
The complaint of the righteous I'm addressing is more akin to the complaints expressed by Job. Job pursued a righteous life, one that feared God and eschewed evil. In his case, however, the Lord allowed Satan to kill, steal, and destroy everything associated with Job. The only person besides Job not taken from him was his wife and she stuck around long enough to tell Job, "curse God and die." And though his so-called friends spoke correct principles to Job, they misapplied them in Job's situation. They only served to add to his misery. Thus, throughout Job's discourse he poured out his complaint to God until the Lord answered Him. In which case, Job was greatly humbled as he confessed, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
THE DIFFERENCE
The difference then between the complaint of the righteous and the murmuring that God condemns comes down to these realities. Murmuring is a prayer of unbelief to ourselves based upon negative circumstances that ill-affect us. While the complaint of the righteous, though it may have an element that is concerned about how life is affecting them, it is also very much concerned about the injustice and the corruption of the wicked that dishonors God and brings calamity to others.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE COMPLAINT
In different times and in various ways, the righteous have cried out to God and poured out their complaint. One of many examples is King David. He declared in Psalm 142:1, 2, "I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble."
What is the nature of the complaint? What does it sound like? What are the issues, questions and emotions expressed? Throughout Scripture, it goes something like this. Why do the wicked prosper? Why should the heathen say "Where is your God?" This literally happened recently when a police officer arrested a Christian who was ministering the Gospel at a so-called "Gay Pride" event. They threw this person in jail and jeered, "Where is your God, Christian?" And probably the greatest complaint and cry of all, "How long O God?" "How Long O God" is also the cry of those who are victims of oppression, tyranny, and martyrdom. Revelation 6:9, 10 states:
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
From this passage of Scripture we can safely assume that the cry of the babies who are being slaughtered in their mother's wombs and being thrown away like trash would be eligible to join this chorus. I would also suggest the litany of woe that is upon our perverse, blood-stained land is an indicator that God is answering their request.
WHAT IS GOD'S ANSWER TO THESE COMPLAINTS?
Psalm 73 concerns the complaint of the righteous. Statements like "For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men" fill this Psalm. How does God respond to this complaint? Psalm 73:17-19 states, "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors."
As we look around in America and watch the inmates running the asylum, our hearts are tempted to despair. When we see a man like Barack Obama elected to the highest office of the land, who is the complete antithesis to our nation's ideals, history, and heritage, one feels like we are living in an even whackier version of Alice in Wonderland. When we watch some of our own citizens celebrate with demonic glee all that is wrong with America and condemn all that was once good in America, we are tempted to fret. When we witness good become evil and evil become good and then that same evil become codified into law, we are tempted to fear. When we see the moral rot from within connected to the threat of terrorism from without, we are tempted to be afraid. And yet, in the midst of this insanity God invites us to come into the secret place of His sanctuary and listen as He declares:
Do not be afraid! Do not fear! Let not your heart be troubled! In me, you will have peace! In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of a good courage, I have overcome the world! Do not be envious of the evil-doer, nor learn none of his ways. Do not fretthyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Psalm 37:35-40 declares in a time when gangsters are in power and lawbreakers are making the rules:
I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
Jesus Himself, knowing He was going back to the Father also knew the world would rejoice at His crucifixion and His people would mourn. It would appear that the powers of darkness prevailed and our Lord and His Kingdom were defeated, but it was only an appearance. He stated:
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! For ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets (Luke 6:22-26).
Everything that we see now, is subject to a great change because there is a God who rules and reigns in the affairs of men. The many Goliaths that stalk the land and boast in their wicked pride will one day be no more. But you will say, "Rusty the forces of darkness control our government, media, culture, and schools. They have the money, the political power, the fame, and fortune. We are like ants trying to stop a tidal wave of evil that is sweeping America away." You won't get an argument from me concerning our desperate plight. Yet, they may have all that and even more, but we come in the name of the Lord of Hosts who throughout history has risen time and again to overthrow His enemies and rescue His people.
He did it in the days of Noah! He did it in the days of Moses! He did it in the days of Elijah! He did it in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra! He did it in the days of the early Chruch. He did it in the days of the Reformation. He did it in the days of the founding of America and He can certainly do it in our day. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus and do it again! Arise O God and let you enemies be scattered. Arise O God and defend the poor and needy and deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Arise O God and rescue your people from those who are taking crafty council to cut us off as nation, both from within and without. Let them not prevail against us O God and deliver us from evil we pray in Jesus Name! And the Church says Amen!
