What have you done for me lately?

Prayer for the Day

“Lord, you are my hope! I give you all my circumstances, good and bad, and I look beyond them to your merciful gaze. I trust that your love will make me more than a conqueror today!”

Reflection

Have you ever bent over backwards, possibly even spent weeks in doing so, to do the best job you can for your employer and maybe even increased customer satisfaction or profits only to have him say, “That’s great, but what have you done for me lately?”  What is your reaction?  Is it frustration and antipathy, or do you forgive him for his callousness and continue on, because of your loyalty to the customer and the company?

After the Lord promises him a great reward for his faithfulness, Abram’s first reaction is to complain. He says in effect, “What good are all these promises? You still haven’t given me a son.” (Gn 15:2) He was so caught up in what he didn’t have, he couldn’t see the big picture about Who God is and His faithfulness to His chosen people, or that God was about to fulfill His promises to him.

Abram wasn’t the only one in Scripture to complain to the Lord. There is also Job, who spent all day every day complaining and challenging God to justify himself. What about Jeremiah, who got so frustrated at one point that he cried out: “You duped me, O Lord!” (Jeremiah 20:7).  Even Peter—the prince of apostles—who asked Jesus: “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27). Each time, God was patient and showed just how much He loves us by remaining faithful and reliable.  Not one of these people was ever left abandoned.

We too may feel the need to ask God tough questions and even complain about the way we feel He is treating us. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. God wants us to feel free enough to tell Him what’s on our hearts, even when we think He has let us down. He knows it’s better for us to be open with Him than to keep all our complaints bottled up until they sour our faith. Only as we open up to Him as Abram did will we find the real answers we are looking for.

Sometimes, faith does require us to keep pressing on with the Lord, even if we are disappointed. At other times, it means simply living every day while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the “perfecter” of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He will get us through, despite our doubts and frustrations.