I heard God speak to me while I was listening to someone in my friend group read the scripture for Bible Study this past week.  He was reading from Habakkuk and the verse was supposed to be Chapter 2:1-3 but he accidentally started in Chapter 1. As he begin to read...the rest of us knew it wasn't the right passage but we continued listening.  We all felt the verse was speaking exactly to what we are experiencing today with the racial tension in our nation.

I want to share it with you – it really helped me and I feel it might give you some hope. 

Habakkuk’s Complaint 

Habakkuk 1:1-4 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

In Habakkuk 1, He is complaining to God about the unrest in his nation. He had a real, devastating painful problem and he complained to God about it and God gave him a vision for his complaint. 

Habakkuk 2:1-3  I will stand at my guard post. I will station myself on the wall. I will watch to see what he will say to me and what answer I will get to my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision...Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come...

This was one of the points in Pastor Tami’s message last Sunday. I want to remind us to take our deep and overwhelming hurts to God. Here is the overview of her sermon... “Stop Complaining”

We complain almost 30 times per day without realizing it. And most of us don’t even know we are complaining. Jesus does not want us complaining against ourselves, God, other people and our circumstances.  God tells us not to complain. Philippians 2:14 NKJV says …Do all things without complaining... 

4 Ways Complaining Destroys Your Happiness. 

1. Complaining damages our health, it damages our brain, making it hard for us to think clearly. Complaining leads to stress, angry, high blood pressure, heart disease and makes us fat. 

2. Complaining hurts all our relationships, our children hate hearing us complain and so does our spouse, the number one reason people are thinking about divorce is because their spouse complains all the time. Our friends and co-workers are tired of hearing us complain, our complaining exhaust them and takes all the energy out of the room. 

3. Complaining limits our success. Complaining causes you to struggle financially and it will constraint your achievements.  

4. Complaining makes us a negative thinker. Complaining totally rewires your brain, making you a person who looks for problems and attracts them. Making you a negative thinking person. Nobody really likes a complainer. 

4 Ways To Stop Your Complaining. 

When you find yourself complaining, apply one of these 4 ways to stop the complaint. 

1. S- Speak the scriptures rather than complaining. 

2. T-Talking with a thankful spirit replacing the ungrateful attitude and voice.  

3. O-Be overjoyed. Be happy. Smile. Happiness is a decision -I decide to be happy or unhappy with the people around me. Stop the complaining about everyone and everything. 

4. P-pray for a vision. Yes, complain to God and he will turn your complaint into a vision.  

This is what Martin Luther King Jr. did. He prayed and poured out his complaint to Jesus about the racial inequalities in his day and God gave him a vision...God gave him a dream. God wants to give you a vision to help shape the world to look like Jesus!