Murmuring

Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. (Isaiah 58:3)


Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? (Malachi 3:14)

11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. (Matthew 20:11-12)

I took a while to see the connection with the last passage. Here people who have genuinely served God and are rewarded are still disappointed that they are not given more than those who did not serve so much. How is this related to the point of this parable stated twice clearly in sandwich form before and after it is given?
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. (Matthew 20:16)
I'm not sure I fully understand it, but here's something: Those who laboured long did it knowing their reward would be full and eternal inheritance of Jesus' eternal universal kingdom. I'm not sure how you could get a better reward than that, but I can imagine their feelings. Those who are converted late and work (fervently no doubt but...) only for a short time receive exactly the same infinitely wonderful reward. Our normal reasoning would be that they should get less and not that the others should get more, but when they get the full inheritance it makes you feel the conscientious are getting short-changed somehow. That's how I usually feel anyway.
I feel many times and in many ways that I am the late worker, but sometimes I feel that I am the long worker. Is one group unsaved or in some way inferior to the other? That seems to be implied by the reason the parable is told. It seems to imply that the late worker is actually better, but that doesn't fit well with the kind of diligence widely promoted in the Bible.
Is thine eye evil, because I am good? (verse 15) I suppose the problem is their attitude towards the work, and this attitude seems enough to cost them dearly... few chosen. That's a bit scary.

When I think of my work for the Gospel I know I often feel it is a drag. I wish I could spend more time with people that are open to the Gospel and less time looking for new contacts. It seems tough, but I know it builds character and it works for finding people too. I should be so grateful that I can be paid to do it, and somewhere in my mind I am. But the feeling is never far away that I wish I could go back to manual work, where as I long as I do my job I don't need to be really nice, take initiative or get treated like a kind of person that I am not. In short I wish I didn't need to grow spiritually. Of course people can grow spiritually in any job, but God seems adamant that this one is for me. God really does know best and gives me the best; I know that from my own experience. Those doubting and murmuring thoughts that God assigned me the wrong job are Satanic and must be driven from my mind by prayer.

All these passages show me that I am not alone in feeling at times like God's plans are not for me. I think so often we substitute a show of good Christianity for actually doing what Christ says, which is just so much further from what we want. Satan has worked hard to cultivate in our minds a distaste for useful labour for the Kingdom of Heaven, but Jesus is powerful to change tastes and I throw myself down on his grace for the transformation that I need.

By the way, murmuring against God is a sin.