What should you do in response to the chastening, judging hand of the Lord? When your sin is the issue of the trial you are facing, how should you respond to God? When the Father, in love, disciplines His child, how should the child react? Here are a couple of ways we usually get it wrong!
We should not deny, ignore, justify, cover-up, overlook, candy-coat, rationalize, or excuse our sin! Sadly, we often respond this way. We grow so attached to our sin and fond of our sin that even the first strokes of discipline doesn’t wake us from our spiritual slumber. Know this though, the loving Father will not give up until His child is corrected!
We should not turn to our own devices, gimmicks, charms, strength, or resources to ease our mind, body, and conscience! Sadly, we often respond this way. Instead of perceiving the spiritual nature of our trial, we tend to confine it to the physical realm and set out to find a cure for what ails us. Again, the Lord will relentlessly pursue and persuade His own!
So how should we respond to the loving, sometimes difficult and harsh, correction of our Father? Hosea’s call to Israel and Judah in 6:1 is a great example for us. “Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.”
Return to the Lord. Repentance is the right response. Sadly, we seldom respond in this manner! We usually react as did Israel and Judah by digging in our heels and clinging to our sin. Knowing our proneness to wander, let us beseech the Lord for moldable hearts that detect and detest our own sin and for the granting of repentance in times of correction!
No comments:
Post a Comment