Chastened By The Lord
THE
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THE EKKLESIA
P.O. BOX 19454
DENVER, COLORADO 80219
CHASTENED BY THE LORD?
By
Phil Scovell
Switching the radio on, I began listening, as I often do, to a popular program hosted by a well known Christian psychologist. I missed most of the broadcast so failed to hear the name of his guest. They were addressing common questions which so many of us ask as Christians concerning the nature and character of God. He, the host, was saying, “And what about this one? (God wants to heal everybody and if you aren’t, there’s something wrong with you)?” I wasn’t listening closely; the radio was playing softly, but the response had something to do with the sovereignty of God – God’s will for a person’s life.
The program concluded with the host telling about an experience he had when his son was little and suffering from a severe ear infection. He told of how the infection resisted common treatment and since his son’s inner ear simply wasn’t healing, the doctor had to probe the young boy’s ear with a surgical instrument to literally scrape the infection from the ear drub. He said he had to wrap his two hundred pound frame around his little boy’s body and hold him tightly while the procedure was performed. He then expressed the great personal agony and sickness of heart he felt as his son cried out for mercy; demanding why his Father would allow them to do such a terrible thing. He said there was a mirror in the room and he could clearly see his son’s eyes in the reflection as they flashed more than his demeaning words could verbalize. He then closed the program by comparing this story to our relationship with God. How often we accuse our Heavenly Father of bringing us pain and hurt; questioning why He would allow such to come to us, doubting is love, and begging for His intervention.
Silencing the radio, I sat in my chair and considered my own situation. Two months earlier, the church I had been trying to pastor for nearly a year, folded. All of the furniture, electronic equipment, instruments, and materials had been given away, the final bills paid, and the remaining members released to go their way. I had dreamed my entire life of preaching and pastoringto and with God’s chosen people; now it was all over, and after just eleven months. What had gone wrong? Who was to blame? Why had I failed? What could I do? How would I provide for my family? I lay in my bed night after night and cried till there were simply no more tears left. My grief and pain swept over me like an angry summer storm. My blindness, the result of retinal surgery as a young boy, threatened as never before. “If you could see, this would never have happened,” echoed a haunting voice. The financial failure of my business two years earlier, along with its bankruptcy, struck violently once again at my emotions; ramming, pounding, crushing my mental stability. I had even been informed by the IRS that my tax returns were being examined. I easily identified with this man’s story because I felt as though I were that little boy being held down by his Heavenly Father in order that spiritual surgery could be performed. Somehow, and for some reason, however, I felt uneasy. Suddenly I sensed the illumination of the Holy Spirit and I understood.
I had been raised with the philosophy that God brings certain things into our lives as either punishment or opportunities for development of spiritual character. Such tragedies as the death of a loved one, sickness and disease, failures, automobile accidents, financial lack and poverty, brokenness in body and mind, pain, grief, fear, and even rejection and alienation all for the benefit of the Believer. All these, and more, were to bring us closer to God. In order to justify our Biblical interpretation, we often quoted from the book of Hebrews; assuring those suffering that chastisement was of God. I never heard, especially by those teaching such, anyone ever praying that God would bring all such things upon one that they mighthgrow in the Lord. If such were true, why were not we asking God for these things to occur in our lives? Why weren’t we having all night prayer meetings to beg God to bring these things upon His people?
As I sat in my living room contemplating what Inhad just heard on the radio, I identified the missing element. Although he had taken his son to the doctor, although he had been forced to hold his son down while the doctor worked on the infected ear, and although he had felt the pain and frustration of his son’s infirmities, he; the father, had not given the sickness to his son. He was not punishing his son for being bad, he wasn’t trying to teach him a lesson, he wasn’t trying to help him grow up, he wasn’t teaching him the virtue of patience, he wasn’t attempting to make him a better, more productive, more keenly aware human being. He, his dad, the one who cared more for him than any other person on earth, was simply there when his son needed him the most. Why, then, are we as Bible Believers so dedicated to accusing God of perpetrating sickness and disease upon those He loves and cares for personally? Why do we believe God uses infirmities to teach us something His Word already has taught? Why must we conclude that all physical dysfunctions are somehow connected with His sovereignty? I am not suggesting that this broadcast, it’s host or guest, were saying that all such is from God. I do, however, feel the necessity to expose the fallacy of those who indeed believe God would hold the frail hand of one of His children over a fiery flame to teach them it burns. I suggest it is time for we, as His children, to spiritually mature. Remember our Heavenly Father promised He would always be there: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Stop blaming God and start doubting the devil.
THE EKKLISIA
P.O. Box 19454
Denver, Colorado 80219
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