Morning Moments

Psa 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Every honest student of the Word of God is somewhat puzzled at times at the presence of pain, suffering, affliction, and chastisement. To put it bluntly, we often do not see the hand of a loving God in the suffering of saints.

The shallow Christian sometimes wishes to deny and eliminate it. I remember years ago when a young friend of mine dropped something on her toe. It was severely bruised and she denied that anything was wrong or that she was hurting.

God is indeed sovereign and is Jehovah Rapha (the Lord our healer), but He also inflicts pain and suffering to prune and purify us. We tend to go to two extremes in our thinking:

1. All suffering (pain, sickness, affliction, etc) is of the devil.

2. No suffering comes from a loving God.

Neither is correct!

God both afflicts and applys healing, just as any loving parent will apply both prescription and pity. The prescription tastes awful, but the end result is healing.

The Bible is replete with examples of God, not just allowing affliction and suffering, but actually applying it to His children. The word "scourge" in our text means to "flog" and may be literal or spiritual. Our God is a Father who punishes and who provides.

We live is such an undisciplined age where either NO discipline is applied (no spanking, no punishment) or abuse is applied. Both are wrong! Neither is characterist of the God of the Bible.

Those of us who are old now, remember when fathers would apply a razor strap to our bottoms and mothers used the likes of a peach tree switch to our legs (and we would have to "go for" both for them to use.

Those of us who are "older" remember when, if you misbehaved in class at school, you were sent down the hall to the coach who would take out his paddle and blister you behind with it.

The interesting thing is that I know of NO case where a kid shot or stabbed or hated the coach for doing it. You got it if you deserved it and you respected those who administered it. School and society in general was far more respectful and civilized then, and FAR LESS violent.

It amazes me that the more educated we get, the dumber we get and the less common sense we seem to use.

Affliction, suffering, pain, scourging, etc. all serve the purpose of building into us self discipline. When you know for sure that you WILL NOT get by, you are certainly not as likely to misbehave.

Finally, we can understand being punished (in some form or another) for misbehaving, but what about the spankings and the "no" we received when we were not misbehaving?

Let me illustrate that point. My elder sister was a senior in high school and the senior class (back in 1949, I think) was going to the Capitol in Atlanta. They were to stay in the Winecoff(?) hotel. My sister had planned to go too, but at the last minute my father said, "NO". He could not explain to her why he had changed his mind, but knew it was the right decision.

The class went (without her) and the hotel caught on fire and every classmate who went was burned to death. There is a memorial for them in the park in Bainbridge, Georgia today.

God always knows when and why to say "No", and when and why and how to administer punishment as well, so we can learn from Job and the sainst through the ages, that God may afflict (restrict in one way or another), but it is "all" and "always" for our good and because He loves us so much.

SO, REJOICE IN AFFLICTIONS, AND REMEMBER THAT EVEN WHEN THE DEVIL BRINGS IT, GOD ALLOWED IT FOR HIS GLORY AND OUR GOOD.

BLESSINGS!