• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About Us
  • Connect
    • Tuesday Together
  • Encourage
    • Rule of Life
    • Lectio Divina
    • Personal Year-end Examen
    • Reading Recommendations
  • Prepare
    • Leadership Training
    • LSM Facilitator Resources
  • Formation Zoé
Lifesprings International Ministries

Lifesprings International Ministries

Encouraging, preparing, and connecting women to impact their communities with the love of God.

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Give
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Transforming Conflict through Renewing Your Mind: Complaining

December 10, 2019 by Ezers Leave a Comment

Listen:

“Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”  (Psalm 137:8-9)

Reflect:

The gentlest description that one could give our passage above is that it’s a complaint. This Psalm lays bare the trauma that Judah suffered at the hands of the Babylonians, who razed both the temple and the city after a long siege.  This siege starved Jerusalem’s inhabitants, forcing many to resort to cannibalism, and killed multitudes. Those that somehow lived were marched off to Babylon as slaves. And above all, they wondered if God had abandoned them.  The captives were so traumatized and grief stricken, that they couldn’t even sing.  

There are numerous Scriptures that tell us not to complain to one another, and for good reason. In the Beatitudes, Jesus equates harboring anger against someone to murder.  Complaints can turn into gossip, slander and even greater conflict. But we also know that if we “stuff” our anger, it can come out in terrible and unexpected ways.  

This is why even through the exiles’ demand was for deadly retaliation, they were expressing hope, because their complaint was addressed to God.  It was a prayer.  

There is something deeply comforting knowing that we can complain loudly and impolitely to our God in the midst of conflict. This allows us to blow off steam, and God will eventually transform these complaints into praying for those with whom we are in conflict. This is what Jeremiah was getting at with those same exiles, when he said: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7)  

It is there that God transforms conflict – by transforming anger into compassion and common ground.

Prayer of Response:

“Lord, I thank you that you have big enough shoulders to take on all of my complaints. I ask you to transform my anger into compassion and common ground for those with whom I am in conflict.  Amen.”

Category iconUncategorized

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Celebrating Fall with Thanksgiving and Praise
  • Celebrating Fall with Thanksgiving and Praise
  • Celebrating Fall with Thanksgiving and Praise
  • Celebrating Fall with Thanksgiving and Praise
  • Celebrating Fall with Thanksgiving and Praise

Archives

  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Give
Give via Check in the U.S.

 

Make check out to:
 Faith and Learning International

IMPORTANT, please write:
LIFESPRINGS GENERAL FUND in the MEMO line

Mail to:
Faith and Learning International
PO Box 480
Wheaton, IL 60187-0480

To give by bank transfer in Euros:

 

IBAN: FR76 1009 6180 4100 0576 2590 144
Account: 00057625901
Bank: CIC FERNEY VOLTAIRE 10096
BIC: CMCIFRPP

Association name: Lifesprings France
Bank: CIC FERNEY VOLTAIRE
Address: 1 Avenue Voltaire
01210 Ferney Voltaire, FRANCE

Phone: +33 8 20 30 05 83