SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 94:12.       Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.
 
Oh Friends, our God is truly a great Deity, but sometimes He can be very sneaky and underhanded. Now I mentioned recently that I had to fast for 12 hours to go for some blood tests, but fasting is not one of my strong points, at least not for 12 hours. Well, it so happens that yesterday evening I went out to a Bible Study class, then ran a few errands, came home and had a late supper. I read for a while then went to bed shortly after midnight. Then lo and behold, I got up after three only to hear or feel this message in my spirit about fasting. Ah Lord eh! Our God certainly moves in mysterious ways, because I wasn’t planning on doing that 12-hour fast today. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do it on my terms, but the Lord slipped a spanner into my wheel and tripped me up. (smile) So now I’m fasting. Chuh! Just another 5 hours to go. Please pray for me that I don’t spoil it, because I certainly don’t want to start all over again. And as we turn to our Bit, I guess that story goes well with it. ‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.’ Yeh Friends, though I knew that I had to do the fasting, and the sooner the better, I wasn’t thrilled with the surprise the Lord sprung on me. But I guess He figured I was pussy-footing around too much, and so decided to take the bull by the horns. (smile) But as our Bit advises, I’m bearing up under the strain and pressure, accepting and bearing it like a man. Hn, hn, hn! And that’s the way we should all handle the corrections of our gracious and LOVING God! Granted, some of them, unlike my petty problem above, can be very hard to bear. But the whole point of the exercise is generally for us to consider the consequences before we do the sinful actions. That’s why from way back when, the Lord through Moses, warned the Israelites about their hardship in the wilderness caused by their disobedience. ‘And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee (did not wear out), neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider (know) in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.’ (Deut.8:3-6) Oh my brethren, it couldn’t be anymore explicit than that! The Lord brought them out of the wilderness eventually, but they paid a stiff price for their disobedience, lack of courage and lack of faith in the Word of the God of their fathers. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed over those many centuries. Our society is even more evil, disobedient, faithless and fearful than the Israelites were. Thus the Lord is chastening us, both by nations and individually. But then we get in a righteous snit because of it, completely forgetting the advice in His Word and the far-reaching consequences of continual wrongdoing. Hear how Job’s buddy, Eliphaz rebukes him. ‘Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.’ (Job 5:17-18) Oh Friends, that’s the beauty of our God; though He may chasten us with tough affliction, He also has the power and the mercy to heal and make us whole! Though we fall like Humpty Dumpty, our God can put us back together again, so we shouldn’t get overly upset when we’re chastened. And though that’s the unvarnished truth, like so many other truths, it’s not always easy to accept. But accepting it is the way of the wise. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119: ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.’ (Ps.119:71) Oh I know we all think he’s crazy for considering afflictions to be good. But remember Friends, it’s only through afflictions and adversity that our faith is built and our Christian character truly formed. For it’s in those times of trouble that we really learn to depend on our God. If we never suffered afflictions or adversity, and everything always came up roses, then we’d have no need for faith or trust in God. Remember too, that before gold and iron can be processed from the impure ore, they must first be passed through a pretty hot fire. Likewise, that’s how our God teaches us His lessons and conforms us to the character of His wonderful Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and living example. Now let’s listen to this wise and most appropriate scripture from Cousin Sol, which we all know, but don’t like and refuse to believe. ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of (detest) his correction: For whom the Lord LOVETH he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’ (Prov.3:11-12) And we’ll end with words from Hebrews that put Cousin Sol’s advice in the proper perspective. ‘And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children (sons), My son, despise not the thou the chastening (discipline)  of the Lord, nor faint (be discouraged) when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord LOVETH He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?’ (Heb.12:5-7) That says it all my people! Whom the Lord LOVES, He corrects. So if you’re being corrected, say ‘Praise the Lord,’ cause He LOVES you. And remember that we all have our individual crosses to bear, so today, please let’s take a serious look at the state of our individual union with Almighty God and see how best we can improve it. That’s true wisdom, my fellow believers! Much LOVE!…actions always bring consequences…so it will serve us well…to consider the latter…before doing the former…