January 30
“Thou has put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths. Thy wrath has rested upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves.” Psalm 88:6-7
Let me continue yesterday’s topic and speak a bit more about how we as Christians ought to respond when we know we have sinned and trials come into our lives, and when we suspect we are being disciplined by God as a direct consequence of our sins.
Well, I know one way of responding that only makes matters worse (believe me, I was stupid enough to do this), and that is to rebel against God and add sin upon sin. And this is where the ugliness of my strong-willed sin nature becomes very apparent to me, when I think, “Okay, if that is how God is going to treat me, then I will continue doing this, or do it to a greater degree!” We can become hardened in our sin and throw a tantrum if you will against God’s discipline and consequences. Maybe we go into a fit of rage, or decide to give up, or conclude “I don’t care anymore about obeying God,” or maybe give ourselves a pity party, or maybe think we are getting back at God somehow. Well, we can all guess the outcome of those antics, right? Right.
So how do we respond to God’s discipline and consequences for our sins, even if we think they are too harsh? First, we should give thanks to God that He desires what is best for us, our holiness. If that is not your desire, then this may be the main point of the discipline! If we desire earthly riches and pleasures more than God’s holiness, we are on the wrong path. We need God’s intervention. The things of this world in no way compare with the surpassing value of knowing Christ, enjoying a clear conscience before Him, and being used by Him to bear fruit for eternity.
Second, cry out to God everyday for a changed heart, ask Him to take away any desire for sin and give you a hatred for your sin. Ask God and keep asking God to reveal and take away every hurtful way from you. Ask God to enable you to learn obedience, as Christ learned obedience from the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). If Jesus, being sinless, can learn obedience from what He suffered, just think how much more we need to learn obedience, being sinners!
Third, ask the Lord daily and diligently for purity of heart, for holiness, for continual fellowship with Him. Ask that you can walk before Him minute by minute in a manner pleasing to Him. Ask that you can be the kind of person with whom the Spirit of God, Jesus, and the Father desire to abide with joyfully and mightily, and tarry long. Pray that your times of grieving the Spirit would be few and far between, even never again. These things, Christ Himself indwelling us richly, His purity, His peace, His joy, His Person living His life through us, these are worth so much more than all the riches and pleasures of this world put together. These make anything else we desire, whether it be success in business and financial affairs, excellent marital relationships, enjoyment of life, health, prosperity for us and our children, and anything else we can name, pale and become truly insignificant. If we have Christ, if we are full of His Spirit and are pleasing to Him, we have everything and more than everything. He is greater than anything else we could ever desire, and gaining a fuller measure of Him is worth all the trials, discipline, and suffering in the world. This takes great faith to believe and accept this, and I still struggle to make Him my only goal, but I believe this to be true with all my heart! I think every true Christian knows this deep down.
We will continue and wrap up this discussion tomorrow.