For preachers: Complaining to the preacher...

"...And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord."--Exodus 16:8.  Moses, talking to Israel after having been brought out of Egypt.  Israel is once again upset because while God has provided water, they are now complaining because they are hungry.  They go so far as to accuse Moses of bringing them into the wilderness to die of hunger.  The Lord would provide manna and quail.  The people's grudge was against Moses, but what they did not realize is that their grudge was actually against God when they were complaining to the preacher. 

Complaining to the preacher.  Moses was simply doing his very best to carry out God's command to bring His people back into the Promised Land.  But people still were complaining to the preacher.

Complaining to the preacher.  It seems that every time something great happened that the Lord delivered Israel, Israel found another reason to complain and once again complain to the preacher. 

Complaining to the preacher.  There are two points I am trying to make here.  First is that more often than not, after God has done something great in our lives, we tend to find another reason to complain because something else is not quite up to par.  

Complaining to the preacher.  My second and main point is that I also have seen some preachers doing their very best to bring the congregation they are working for to what God wants them to be and all the congregation seems to do is complain about what the preacher is not doing rather than what he is doing.  

Complaining to the preacher.  Those of us that are preachers can probably relate to how Moses must be feeling.  As preachers, our main job is to preach the Word but this is in an effort to bring our prospective congregations to what God wants them to be.  This is easier said than done.  

Complaining to the preacher.  Having been involved in ministry for a little over five years now, I have seen the ups, downs, ins and outs of the life of a minister.  What I have experienced in five short years makes me gain that much more respect for those who have been in the ministry for much longer.  Among those that come to mind are some of my brethren who are preachers in Colorado and California such as Neal Pollard, Adam Kimber, Denny Petrillo and Wayne Roberts just to name a few.  I am willing to bet they too have witnessed cases of complaining to the preacher. 

Complaining to the preacher.  My encouragement for all of us that are involved in some sort of ministry of any capacity, whether from the pulpit or simply being involved in the work of the church in any area is this.  When you find yourself discouraged for whatever reason, I encourage you to focus on the fact that you ARE doing God's will in an attempt to bring His people to what He would want them to be.  We are going to sometimes go through valleys but other times we will be on the mountaintop.  No matter what happens, we must remember that it is God's will we are doing and He will get us through and help us succeed in bringing His people into the Promised Land. 

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!