THROUGH THE BIBLE IN THREE YEARS
When I was a kid, Mother used to tell me I didn't understand the action of affliction. Then she would impose that action upon me!
When I would do something wrong, Mom would TALK to me. Then, she would FUSS at me. And, if I did it again, she'd take down that big hand-tooled, thick leather belt of Dad's and afflict me!
Now, she would always say, "This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you." At the time I thought, "Yeah! Easy for you to say. You're not the one getting his behind spanked!"
Funny, I never doubted Mom's sincere love for me.
But I sure doubted the action of affliction!
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________SCRIPTURE____________________________________________________________________
Ps 119:71
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
KJV
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_______THOUGHT______________________________________________________________________
Whoever woulda thunk it!?! It is "good" to have been "afflicted?"
I dare say that a person, without Christ, would never understand that statement. And even some, with faith in Christ, do not understand it.
Think back; when God was leading Israel away from Egyptian bondage and into the promised land. The Red Sea blocked their escape, and they murmured. The water dried up, and they murmured. The food gave out, and they murmured. When the spies first entered the promised land, they came back with an "evil report," and the people murmured.
But if they had never faced the "affliction" of those things, they would have never learned God's Word. And they would have never learned God's power of deliverance.
When I was growing up, I had a drug problem. My Mom and Dad drug me to church everytime the door was opened! If they had not "afflicted" me so, I would have never learned God's Word. I would never have learned God's power of deliverance.
Does God "afflict" His children? YES! He is a loving Father, and wants the best for His children. David also wrote, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." (Ps 119:67) Maybe it didn't feel good, but it was good!
One thing about affliction: we never get as much as we DESERVE!
Sometimes we Christians stray in spiritual sins that we aren't even aware of: pride, selfishness, laxness, apathy, impure motives, jealousy, strife, etc. God, as a loving Father, has His way of "afflicting" and bringing us back into the right path.
If you, as a child of God, are "afflicted" today, know that it is because your Heavenly Father loves you!
Let that action move you back to the "Word" and back to the power of His "deliverance."
"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth..." (Heb 12:6)
Love ya,
Bruce