God Punishes Out of Love

It has been awhile since my last blog. But that's expected of college students, especially college students who are preparing to graduate soon. Less than 70 days! Woohoo!

I recently went through the book of Jeremiah. Let me tell ya it was not the most fun read I've ever gone through. It was hard to keep going and difficult to apply to my life at times. But needless to say, I did it. Now having read through the whole thing, I see a different side of God. It is very apparent in this book that God is an angry God. All throughout the rest of the Bible, we see a lot of stories of God's grace and his goodness. But we never focus on the wrath of God. I think we are too afraid to talk about it or face it.

The image I kept getting was a picture of a father disciplining his child. God is very much like our father. He has made us promises and intended to protect us. However, he has also warned us that if we don't do what he asks, then there will be consequences. How many times have our parents warned us that if we don't listen there will be consequences? I will be the first to admit that I didn't always believe my parents would follow through on things and I would disobey. Since I disobeyed, I had to deal with the consequences. I didn't like it. In fact I hated it when I got in trouble. At the time I thought, "If you really love me you wouldn't take away these privileges." or "If you really love me, you wouldn't ground me."  But looking back, I realize that my parents punished me because they love me. I learned to never do it again and that when my parents say I'll have consequences, they mean it.

My parents never wanted to punish me. They hated having to punish me. But they knew that if they didn't, I would never learn to listen to their authority. I wold look at them as a joke. I now value and respect their authority. I have become a better person because of the consequences I have gone through. They weren't fun, but if I hadn't gone through them, I never would have learned to grow.

Even with my relationship with God I would be warned not to do something and I would ignore it. I would brush it off and say,"You don't really mean that. You won't do anything to me. I'm your child. You love me." But when I ignored Him, I got into trouble. There was nothing He could do at that point, He did warn me. Now I have to deal with the consequences. It is so hard but it was my choice. I learned my lesson.

As long as you continue to listen to God and learn from your mistakes, He will keep directing you guiding you along the way. However, if you choose to continue to ignore Him, He won't always be there. Just like if your parents keep warning you against something and you continue to ignore them, they will eventually stop telling you. There comes a point that that Voice will stop because you keep ignoring it. It's the same principle as if your friend keeps ignoring you. After a while you'll soon get the message and stop talking to them.

God only wants the best for us. If He tells us to do something that seems impossible, that is all the more reason to trust Him because He alone knows all things and sees all things. He will be with you every step of the way, even if you stumble.