CHASTENED BY THE LORD?
By
Phil Scovell
Copyright (C) 1997/2003
By Phil Scovell
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Phil Scovell
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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 drum. 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
pastoring to 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
audited. 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 might grow 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 I had just
heard on the radio, the Lord 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
disfunction 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.
End Of Document
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