Pastor Leon Seaton

Stop Your Bellyaching!

God Forgive Me When I Whine

Today, upon a bus,
I saw a girl with golden hair.
and wished I was as fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle.
She had one leg and wore a crutch.
But as she passed, she gave a smile.

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 legs, the world is mine.

I stopped to buy some candy.
The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him, he seemed so glad.
If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me,
"I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you.
You see," he said, "I'm blind."

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 eyes, the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play.
He did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word.
And then I knew, he couldn't hear.

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I'd go.
With eyes to see the sunset's glow.
With ears to hear what I'd know.

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.

~Red Foley

The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. He did not take pen in hand and write the words, but He inspired the men and women that wrote it. He did not dictate word for word what was to go in the scriptures, rather He gave them a message; each writer used his/her own talents to record what God wanted to say.

If we were to broadcast a speech by President Obama into this sanctuary this morning and then adjourn to the Loyal Café to discuss his speech and what he meant, it would be fascinating to hear different versions of what he said. Why is that? Because our understanding of what we see and hear is influenced by personal biases, by our hearing, by our expectations and by our previous experiences.

A lot of the humor between Roberta and me goes away when I put in my hearing aids and actually listen to her. Otherwise I just guess at what I hear and often it ain’t right!

When you first got saved you probably were amazed at how quickly God answered some of your prayers. Later you wondered what had happened! Why did God quit showing up so quickly?

There is a good reason. When we were children our parents carried us a lot. As we matured they expected us to do our own walking! God is a loving parent… and He does the same thing!

As we mature, our level of faith is based on what we believe God is willing to do. Sometimes we are right, sometimes we are wrong. God’s word does not change, but as our level of understanding and wisdom grows, we start believing for more and more difficult things. God’s intent is to make you and me a spiritual powerhouse so we can shake this world up for His glory.

Our level of faith influences how much we can do for God. Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Joseph became the number two man in Egypt. Daniel escaped the lions’ den. All these things happened because of their faith.

Peter walked on water. The early church “turned the world upside down” within two years of Calvary.

The United States of America began with its Constitution based on the Holy Scriptures because of the faith of our founding Fathers.

I often ask myself, “What have I done for God through my faith”? Believe me, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” when I get to heaven!

How can we grow in faith? Like it or not, it takes a lot of on-the-job experience. I’ve never driven a tractor around a field, but I’ve heard some stories about people that had difficulty. (I won’t embarrass anyone!) 

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.         

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (KJV: “diligently”)

       You have to be humble.

Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” The KJV adds that every person is given a measure of faith.

You were born with enough faith to survive and to get saved and understand who God is. He expects you to develop that faith.

How do we do that?

Romans 10:17 “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” In other words, as our knowledge of God's word grows, so does our faith.

Faith works when we love and trust God.

Mature faith is based on knowledge. Babies are born with a truckload of faith. It may be innocence or ignorance, but babies know no fear. If they have a need or want to be loved or fed they just ask. In a normal, healthy home help comes!

As we get older we start hearing that you can’t trust God to do what He says. After we are disappointed a few times, we believe that foolishness. Please understand that God loves us and wants to bless us by answering our prayers. However, as is any loving parent, He is also interested on our personal growth and development! Sometimes God makes us wait for the answer until we are mature enough to take full advantage of the situation. Sometimes the battle takes on the forces of Satan, as witnessed by Daniel having to wait for 21 days to get answers to prayer. When the angel of the Lord arrived he said that the Prince of Persia withstood him.

Christian maturity does not take place overnight, and we learn best through the hard knocks of life. Most supervisors know that some people never mature as workers. Whatever they learned the first year of employment is what they do over and over and over. Five years after they have been hired they still have only one year of experience…they have just had it five times!

That person seldom gets raises and is often fired when they have been sitting at their desk wondering if this would be the day they got a pay raise. They never will understand why they lose their jobs!

Christianity is much the same. When we invite Jesus to be our Savior He enthusiastically forgives us of our sins and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart and begins a slow transformation process. God makes everything available to us but He does not spoon-feed us. Neither does He take over our will.

One Bible teacher says, “You can trust the Word of God to be accurate, but watch out for the footnotes. Sometimes they take away from the truth!”

Faith is based on knowledge. Not that we simply agree with God, but that we know him and we have experienced the power of obedience.

Last week I was asked to visit a patient in Purcell. As I visited with her and her husband they shared a wonderful knowledge of the Bible and spiritual principles. But I felt a check in my spirit so I asked the spouse, “How long ago did you invite Jesus into your heart?”

His response surprised me. “I never have,” he said. I responded, “You should consider doing that, it would make a tremendous difference to you.”

He agreed. “I bet it would.” His wife cannot speak, but she wrote a note and said, “I need to invite Jesus into my heart too.” After I explained the scriptures we went through the sinner’s prayer. They both looked much brighter and happier. It was the joy of the Lord!

They now have an experience on which God can build a strong relationship!

Years ago I worked as a chaplain at the Oklahoma University Medical Center. I had spent a lot of time with a patient as she dealt with her illness. She seemed firmly established in the word of God. But one day I walked into her room and she was really irritated at me.

“Did you know that God can heal people?” she demanded?

“Well, yes,” I muttered.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you knew!”

We cannot believe God will do something if we do not know that He is willing to help us. There are exceptions to this. No doubt we have all read about someone that was frustrated and hurting and finally cried out in their anguish, “If there is a God please help me,” and help came.

We bought a used book on prayer on the internet. These words had been added at the end of one of the chapters: “There are two types of prayer that God does not answer:

1.      ‘Why me, Lord?’

2.      The prayers of a control freak. If you have to be in control God is not going to listen to you.”

Walking with God is a wonderful experience… but we still have problems.

As believers we face many trials… just like the unbelievers. It is just the way life is.  In Romans 5 and James 1 we are instructed to be happy and rejoice when (not why) we have trials because these experiences help us grow and become patient and persistent.

Mark 8: 34-38 NIV.  Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?  If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels."

            God honors our will. If you are missing God’s will, you will feel a check in your spirit or God may send people along to give you words of advice and warning, but we have to make our own decisions!  We have to determine in our hearts that we will do the will of God even when we are not in the mood or so inclined.

             Several years ago I had a really stressful job… not because of the work, but because of my immediate supervisor. Now I am a reasonable man. I enjoy new technology, and my calling from God is to serve people as a pastor and a nurse. However, once you give me an assignment, let me do it. Do not micromanage me and do not change the rules without telling me and allowing me time to understand what the new plan is.

      I have a brain – let me use it!

            One day things reached a boiling point, and I shared my frustration with a couple of people. The next day the regional supervisor had my immediate supervisor tell me, “Leon needs to settle down. He needs to realize that he can be replaced.”

            Guess who found another job! The lady I worked for loved to fire people.

      But guess what company went bankrupt! Five years later the company had new owners. The regional supervisor called me and asked if I was “ready to come home.” The clinic was at risk for being closed because the physicians had lost confidence in the leadership. It took 3 years but it became the strongest clinic of its kind in Oklahoma City.

      I want to conclude this message by focusing on wisdom.  In 71 years of living I have done a lot of dumb things. If I had obeyed Proverbs 8 my life would have been much simpler!    Click here to read it in The Bible Gateway.

June 28, 2009