January 29
“’My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the LORD loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.’” Hebrews 12:5-6
At times it feels like God is against us. When we look at what is happening to us, when we think about how much pain we are in and how much better other people have it, when we think about our failures and losses and sins and think how much worse we are than most, it is easy to think that “God has His favorites, and I am not one of them.” We know that God disciplines us for our good, but really? What I am experiencing is far too harsh, and it is lasting far too long. Have you ever felt that way?
Now those of us who are in Christ can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that Jesus does love us, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39). This is an anchor that those of us in Christ must hold so very dear and not question it, even though it seems to be thoroughly questionable in these times. But let me offer several ways of processing what is going on so that we can get our minds around it in the best way possible and move forward through the darkness:
(1) First, on what basis are you trusting Christ for salvation? On the basis of your own good deeds, or on the basis of His shed blood on the cross to secure your salvation for you? Are you believing Him and Him alone, by faith, or are you trusting in your own works, even a little bit, to get you to heaven? If the former, well and good, Christ alone can get us to heaven, and not one of our own good deeds has any ability to help atone for our sins before God (Ephesians 2:8-9). But if the latter, if you are trusting yourself and your own good works to make you right before God, then perhaps you are not a true Christian, and God is allowing these bad things to happen to wake you up and get your attention. If you suspect this is the case with you, if you don’t have Christ’s peace and rest in your soul, then cry out to Him for the faith to trust Him completely to forgive your sins and give you eternal life, all on the basis of what Jesus has done and not your own efforts (see the introduction to the Overcoming Temptation booklet for a more thorough explanation of how to become a true Christian).
(2) Second, if you are a true Christian, then you may be well aware of your sins; when difficult times of testing come upon me, I always begin thinking about how I sinned and what I did wrong, and there is usually a lot to think about! We begin to think that this is happening to us because we did this or that, and to a small or large extent, that may very well be true. God may very well be disciplining us for our sins, or even scourging us.
We may look at other Christians who we think may be committing similar or greater sins, and these difficult things aren’t happening to them, and that also may be true. But here is the important point, I think, that we should keep in mind: God is just in disciplining us for the smallest of sins with whatever manner of consequences He chooses to give us. And if He chooses to discipline us and not the other person, that is His decision to make. In reality, we ought to rejoice for every minute of His discipline, if it increases our fear of the Lord and our holiness and our obedience to His word. Woe to them that do not experience His discipline! So if we know we have sinned, whatever punishment He brings is just and not unfair. He is just and good to us always, and for us to go through this time of scourging so that we can share in His holiness and learn greater obedience to Him is a blessing better than if He had withheld this trial from us. But make certain you identify your sins, and ask God to show them to you, because you must repent of them. Don’t think things can’t get worse if you don’t repent!
Tomorrow we will further discuss this topic about how we ought to think act during times of trials and testing and how this discussion ties into the overall topic of overcoming temptation.