Proverbs 3:11
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction.
Really? Despise not the chastening of the Lord? Okay, so what? Are we to welcome correction? YES! Yes indeed we are to welcome correction! Is it fun? NO! However, it is necessary, and it is for our own good. Remember, God only corrects us because He loves us sooooo much. Of course when we are in the midst of correction, it certainly doesn't feel like love, but maybe that's because we have a twisted understanding of what love is.
Most of us view love as a warm fuzzy. Love is supposed to feel good, right? Well yes, that is true some of the time, but other times love can hurt. Case in point: A child gets a splinter buried pretty darn good in his skin. The mom, who by the way loves her child very much, commences to the horrific act of removing the splinter with a pair of tweezers.
Now keep in mind the child does not see a loving mommy who has come to rescue the day. Quite the contrary! The child is thinking, "Is this my mother?! Is this the same woman who tucks me in at night?! Why is she hurting me? Why won't she stop? Doesn't she love me?"
The mother's thoughts, as she wrestles to pin down the flailing arms and legs with one hand while performing minor surgery with the other, are quite different than her son's. While holding back tears so as not to scare the child even more, she is thinking, "Oh God! Help me get this splinter out! I can't stand hurting him like this, but if I don't get the splinter out, it will get infected. Oh how it pains my heart to see him suffer like this, but I know the end result will be much better for him."
So although it appears as if mom is a crazy woman set on inflicting unimaginable pain on her child, in reality she is inflicting LOVE. Painful yes, but love nonetheless. I would even go so far as to say this is an even greater act of love than tucking her son in to bed at night because to show this kind of love hurts HER. Thankfully, after she successfully removes the splinter, the pain ends and her son realizes the great thing she has done for him. Their smiles beam at each other, and trust of his mom's love is restored in his heart. In fact, he more than likely offers up a hug and tells her thank you for removing the splinter.
Wow! He tells her thank you for causing him such agonizing pain! Why? Probably because all through the pain he heard her soothing voice saying, "I'm so sorry, but I have to do this. It's for your own good. If I leave the splinter in there sweetie, it's going to keep causing you pain and it will get infected. Mommy doesn't want to do this to you, but I have to. I love you baby. It breaks my heart to do this, but you are going to feel sooo much better once I get it out. Now hold still. Here it comes. Yes! All done...no more splinter!" Then he felt her reassuring kiss upon his brow and saw the tears that she only just now allowed to fall. It was then he realized what she had done. She had LOVED him enough to put herself through pain right along with him.
That's exactly how it is when God corrects us. He does not allow us to go through the pain of correction just so he can say, "Ha! That's what you get for disobeying me! Take that...and that!" NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Instead, he is saying to us something similar to what the mother told her son. You see, God knows if we continue in something that is wrong in His sight, it will infect us and we will die...forever. Therefore, he allows the pain of correction so that the end result for us will be blessings and joy.
Of course that means we need to embrace correction like the little boy with the splinter. We need to thank God for what he is doing as he corrects us. Trust me, it won't be fun. However, if we will LISTEN to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit comforting us and giving us wisdom during those times, then we will come out on the other end healthy in our spirit, soul, body, relationships, and finances. Then, as we walk in that healthy state, hopefully we will smile at our Daddy and thank Him for what He did.
No comments:
Post a Comment