Not My Problem?

I've been labeled a complainer before. I've gotten better - or at least, I like to think I have - but I still catch myself complaining about things sometimes that don't really matter to others. Sometimes, I even complain about other people. I also get so involved with my friends' problems that I lose focus on the work I'm supposed to be doing or the social situation I'm supposed to focus on.

In Numbers 16, some of the Israelites are grumbling against Aaron and the Levites because they believed they were all holy and worthy of being priests. They ignored the fact that God had set Aaron up as the head of the priesthood and set the Levites to serve as priests under him. In verse 11, Moses says, "It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?"

The point here is not simply that the people were rebelling against God and not just Aaron. It is that Aaron is nothing but an instrument of God. Aaron is not the people's concern; Aaron is God's concern. Aaron, in and of himself, is a worthless human being, same as the rest of us. Neither his heart nor how he got his position nor anything about him save how well he followed God's laws was any business of the people's.

Try to apply that to your life. Everyone in power in your life is there because God allowed that person to be there. Jesus was being questioned by Pilate in John 19. Verses 10-11 read, "'Do you refuse to speak to me?' Pilate said. 'Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?' Jesus answered, 'You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.'" Pilate would eventually give the order to hand him over to the Jews for crucifixion. If this is the case even with Jesus, how much more so is it the case with us? Your boss that you don't like, your coworkers that talk bad about you behind your back, your false friends, every last person you know is in your life because God allowed them to be. He may not have sent them, but He allowed them to come and that means there is a purpose for them to be there.

And part of that purpose, I believe, is for you to realize, "Who are they that I should make them my problem?" The message is not simply that you should bite your tongue. Sometimes, if you can do it in love and know it is God's leading you to say something, these leaders and other people may need to be corrected. Jesus corrected the Pharisees and Saduccees at almost every turn. The message is that you realize God allowed them to be where they are and if He allowed it, He can give you the strength to handle it as He would have you to. Other people should not be your problem if you trust in God enough.

I know how difficult this is to practice. I'll be the first to admit to hypocrisy in this. I know it is easy to get too involved in the lives of those we care about or too self-absorbed in our own problems, which are all too often people-based. But the solution is not people-based. We can't look to them to be better or solve our problems. We can only look to God: to correct them, to see us through, to fix what's been done if it's His will, to provide for us, to do all that we need. Who is Aaron, that he can do that? If he can do none of it, then who is he that we should grumble against him?