Please Don't Give Me What I Deserve

As a teenager, I wrote a poem in which the subject is crying out to God, complaining about how miserable his life has become and how unfair God has been to him so far. He then yells out, "God! Give me what I deserve!" Well, God hears that prayer, and rewards him with Job type tribulation, and each possession and relationship that he was given to him by God is taken away. The final line has God telling him, "You do not even deserve your life."
This morning, I was reminded of this poem by Alistair Begg's daily devotional, "AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL GRUMBLED." In this devotional, Alistair discusses the grumblings of Christians today and throughout history. Within the devotional, he asks the question, "Are you punished as severely as your sins deserve?"
That is a sobering question to ponder when you feel that you need to grumble to God about how unfair he has been to you.