Now that’s some news! There’s just something about summer. It’s always hot. But it wasn’t that long ago that it was cold. And then we wished for summer weather. Well, your prayers have been answered. It’s hot! Do we have cause to complain? No, not really. It’s a trait of human nature, and a trait that God dislikes.
Ancient Israel mastered the fine art of complaining. When they were liberated from Egypt, were they thrilled? For about a day. When they reached the Red Sea, they “murmured” against Moses. “Murmur”-ing is a quiet form of complaining. When they crossed the sea of dry land, watched the Egyptians drowned, and finally walked as free men, they started murmuring against Moses because they had no food. God heard them, sent them Manna (bread from Heaven), and they filled their bellies, that is, until they tired of Manna. “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” (Numbers 11:5, 6) So the Lord sent quail to give them meat to eat. But God was so angry at their ingratitude that He struck them with a severe plague! “Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.” (Psalms 78:41) Thus we receive the warning in 1 Corinthians 10:10, “And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel.”
These are chilling words on a hot day. We can find a million things to complain about, but what does God think about it? God is the one who constructed the seasons, both the heat and the cold. In fact, if you go back into the Scriptures, you might find that winter and summer are consequences of the flood. Before the flood, the world was a temperate paradise. A layer of water in the upper atmosphere protected the world from the sun’s harmful radiation.1 But with the flood, that water, and the water under the earth flooded the surface (Genesis 7:11) and exposed the ground to direct sunlight, and the extremes of the seasons. And why did God send the flood? “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5) So whose fault is it that it is so hot? Ours, because we are still wicked. We still wander away from God, and resist His will for our lives.
So what is it that God wants from us? He doesn’t want anything from us. He wants us, just as we are, to love Him, just as He is. He is the bringer of rain, to cool hot days, and of clouds, to shield from the sun. He is the Grower of green things, to feed you and to please you with its beauty. He loves you in so many different ways, but most importantly, He sent His own Son to you, to die for you, to pay for your wickedness in His Father’s eyes, and finally to rise again from death, to invite you to Him, if you are willing. His grace truly is amazing.
The path to Him is very simple:
Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died and rose again.
Confess that belief to others.
Repent of your sins before God and change your heart with His help.
Be immersed for the forgiveness of your sins, and receive the presence of the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life.
Grow in Christ, through prayer, Bible study, time spent with Him, attendance and participation in and with Church.
Stop complaining. It’s always going to be hot in summer. But it sure beats Hell!
1 C. Theodore Schwarze, The Marvel of Earth’s Canopies (Chicago, IL: Good News, 1957), 24ff.
Meritt Musings 