Thoughts on life and Scripture...

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Laying Still Under God's Scalpel

     I suppose with all that has gone on in our lives in the last few weeks, the topic of trials and difficulties has been on my mind. It is easy to teach on trials, when life is pretty good. But it is in the fire of trials when the soundness of our faith is tested. Some of what I learned I want to share with you so that one day it may help you as well. I have not learned this lesson perfectly, but I am growing bit by bit.

     'No pain no gain' is a common expression which is often true. This is true in the world of healing and medicine. When we are sick or have some problem in our body, the path to a cure is lined with pain. Doctors prescribe medicines that are bitter to fight disease. They take their scalpels and forceps to cut us open so that they may fix our health problems. They can cause serious pain and discomfort in order to obtain a cure. Yet why do people continue to go to doctors and hospitals? Why do they take treatment or medicine that is bitter and painful? People want to be healthy. They want to enjoy this life. And so, they are willing to bear with the pain of treatment in order that they may defeat the disease and return to health and the life they want to live.

     What is true of the diseases of the body and how they are cured, is also true of the diseases of the soul and how they are treated. Sin is the black plague of the soul. It destroys, rots, corrupts, and ruins people. No disease of the body can compare with the deadly nature of sin in the soul of man. However Jesus is the great Divine Physician. "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17  It is He who gives new life to the dead sinner through changing his heart of stone into a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) But the Christian still has sin in his life. The flesh is still there. God is working like a doctor in our lives to  cure us of this sin disease that still runs in our veins. He mixes together the bitter medicines of the trials of our lives with His word to treat our sin. He knows the right time for the trial in each person's life. He knows which is the right trial for the right person to cure their particular sin. He understands how to mix trials together to produce a healing effect. This God does every day in our lives. Through little trials, like a flat tire or big trials like the death of a friend or painful cancer, God is slowly but surely attacking our sin disease and causing us to grow healthy and strong in holiness.

    Our recovery to healthy godliness, depends in some degree on how we react to trials. If you try to fight the doctor as he tries to give you a shot, it will take longer to get a cure and you may have to be held down so the medicine can be administered. If you don't lay still as God takes His scalpel to remove your sin, it will hurt more. Grumbling, complaining, and disobeying God during  a trial will lead to a slower recovery. However if we lie still under God's scalpel by trusting His wisdom, goodness and love, the healing will be quicker and more complete. When every nerve of our body wants to lash out or run, our faith should cling even more tightly to God's promises and truth.  We should rejoice and be thankful even in the greatest pain and suffering, not because pain and suffering is good, but because God has promised to use these painful medicines to do us good and to glorify Himself. We should rejoice to see God curing us of our poisonous sin and causing us to produce greater fruit. We should worship even in the tears, even if it is through our groans. God is good and always does good. We can depend on that.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4

 Lord, help our weak faith so that it can lay hold of who you are and what you have promised.

Brad

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