God! why me?
How many of us have screamed and asked God this ineffable question? Sure, we’ve
in one way or the other when we’re faced with an arduous season in our lives - howling
in a sciamachy of dismay.
In
deliberately, we knock at the door, dash the towel on the ground, fuss our heads
under our pillows, storm our feet and silently scream within, “God why me? – fulminating
with an incongruous burst - Why? Why?
When you’ve
dared to believe, prayed, even fasted for days, months, years yet nothing seems
to change the situation, the creed of propensity is to believe it’s a spiritual
warfare. It will be quite spurious to think otherwise in the natural
perspective especially when faced with no answers.
In times
like this, our clustered minds are swirled incessantly with anger, disbelief, and
fear. We vacuously pontificate without any measure of restrain; “this is a Spiritual
Warfare.” “My enemies are at work”. “Is that brother, that sister
inflicting me like this” we find solace in blaming ourselves, blaming the
devil and everyone around us and even our family members for our predicaments.
Believe
it or not, there is a natural tendency among us Christians to view anything and
everything unpleasant that happens to us as the result of “spiritual warfare”
but we often fail to make the connection between our problems and God’s discipline.
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens
and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6).
When a
difficulty arises, many of us immediately pray and ask God to remove the
distress and bring an end to the plight. We bind and cast the devil thinking
the devil is the cause of the predicament, but the truth is, the devil might
have nothing to do with the predicament or spiritual warfare. It may appear far
more glorious for us to explain our pains, hardship and difficulties as Satan’s
determined attacks against us, rather than admitting that we are being
disciplined by our heavenly Father.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by
such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and
the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of
faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider
him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary
and lose heart.
In your struggle against
sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have
you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a
father addresses his son? It says,
“My son do not make light
of the Lord’s discipline, and do not loss heart when he rebukes you, because
the Lord disciplines the one, he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his
son.
Endure hardship as
discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not
disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined – and everyone
undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters
at all.
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we
respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits
and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God
disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No
discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later, however, it produces
a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your
feeble arms and week knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame
may not be disabled, but rather healed.
(Hebrews 12:
1-12)
What is often mistaken as Satan’s
attack may actually be chastisement from our loving Father.
The Word of the Lord came to
Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it,
because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed
for Tarshish. He went to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.
After paying the fare, he went abroad and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the
Lord.
Then the Lord sent a great wind
on the sea, as such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up…
(Jonah 1:1-4) (Read
the entire book of Jonah)
One would have thought the devil
was responsible for this, but the Bible recounts that it was God who sent the
storm against him. God can send a storm!
If you have neglected your role
as spiritual teacher to your children, God may allow them to fall into sin just
like what happened to the sons of Saul. If you have been dishonest at work, God
may correct you by letting you face the consequences. It will be absurd to pray
that God would ease your discomfort. God is disciplining you in order to gain
your attention and bring necessary change to your life. How tragic never to
make the connection between our problems and God’s discipline. God’s discipline will not help you if you dismiss it as Satan’s doing
or spiritual warfare. Not every hardship is the chastisement of God, but
Scripture indicates that God will discipline us. (Hebrews 12:6).
If we misunderstand God’s
chastening, we may blame Him for not answering our prayers or failing to
protect us from Satan. Meanwhile, God is warning us of the danger we may face because
of our sin. God’s nature is perfect love, and He corrects us because He has our
ultimate good in His heart.
Today let’s ask ourselves these questions:
1. What kind
of suffering is this?
2. Where is
this suffering coming from?
3. Who is
doing it?
