Pain not in Vain!

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"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us into pieces, but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds" (Hos 6:1)

"Why bad things to good people?" This question has not been satisfactorily answered. The understanding of God's nature as revealed in the Scriptures provides the key to unlock this mystery.

We are all too familiar with the redemptive names of God such as Jehovah-Jireh and Jehovah-Rapha. But there's another name by which God has revealed Himself: Jehovah-Makkeh, meaning, "I am the Lord who strikes the blow!" (Ezek 7:9).

Explaining the blessedness of God's chastisement, one of Job's friends said, "Though He wounds, He also bandages. He strikes, but His hands also heal" (Job 5:17,18). Prophet Hosea endorsed this ancient thought (Hos 6:1). Both the day and the night are God's (Psa 74:16). He has appointed the day of prosperity as well as the day of adversity (Eccl 7:14). Both woe and wellbeing proceed from the mouth of the Most High (Lam 3:38).

Hebrews Chapter 11, called the Faith Chapter, is the favourite of Christians everywhere. But what about the twelfth Chapter? The writer himself calls it a "forgotten" truth (v 5)! Majoring on Hebrews eleven and minimizing the teaching of the twelfth Chapter will leave us half-baked. Christian life is a race (Heb 12:1). Runners get rid of all unnecessary weight when they get set on the track. When unnecessary things occupy us, God gets angry. He is displeased when any pastime steals our prayertime, or the reading of a secular magazine sidelines Scripture meditation. All idols must be excluded from our life so the Lord alone may be exalted (Isa 2:17b,18).

Even blessings at times can blur spiritual vision and blunt spiritual sensitivity. Eternal values become obscure and earthly blessings become our objective. God cannot tolerate this. He is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29)! When everything seems to be going alright, He will suddenly send a storm. He is interested in the removal of everything that can be shaken so that only that which cannot be shaken may remain (Heb 12:27). He lays us down on our backs so we may look up! "The Heavenly Father never takes away anything from His children unless He means to give them something better," said George Muller (1805-1898) who illustrated in his times remarkable faith on God whether the passage was smooth or the going was tough!


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