When you're in a Season of God's Discipline...

If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:8-11

  

Why is it when something gets taken away from us, it is usually then and only then that we truly appreciate it's worth.

I'm not talking about the deeper things of life, which I believe most of us endeavor to appreciate, but too often take for granted.

But I am talking about the simple things in life, those situations or functionalities that are so routine, yet not appreciated to the fullest.

Recently, I was so frustrated with spending a lonely day at home, that I realized the only cause of the frustration was not the lonely day, but how I viewed it...

Rather than focusing on the loneliness and things not going how I would have liked them to on that particular day, I decided I needed a major mindset adjustment.

It was a beautiful sunny day.  Even though it was too cold to be outside, the sun was making the inside of my entire house bright and cheery.  Having recently watched a vacation vlog of a person who stayed in a beautiful vacation home overlooking the ocean and epic mountains of Cape Town, Africa, I thought to myself, I can have a vacation mindset, even in my own home!  

I spent different times of the day enjoying the surroundings of the different rooms in my home, and partook of relaxing activities. 

I appreciated the warmth of the sun, as I sat bathed in the sunlight next to my back slider; I soaked up the views of the fields out back with the birds flitting around; I sat in my living room for a spell to read a good book, and although time didn't permit, I was going to play a round of Wii Resort Frisbee Golf to truly get the tropical vacation feel.  ;-)

Within a matter of a few days of my vacation, I found myself in an abundance of pain and stiffness. I couldn't even sit or walk without extreme difficulty or discomfort.

I have been having issues with worsening sciatica. For the past six weeks the pain wakes me up at night, and the lack of sleep is catching up with me.

I'm not really sure what the offending event actually was that caused this bizarre turn of events, but I've never experienced anything like it.  

Unfortunately, I apparently don't have the ability to sleep when I am lying on my back and can only sleep on my side.  For two nights in a row I didn't sleep at all because it was too painful to sleep on either side.  My right hip is still very sore.

I am also allergic to NSAIDs which I'm sure would have helped greatly with reducing the inflammation I most assuredly have.

I will be making an appointment with a chiropractor to get this all checked out.  In the meantime, in God's mercy, I am slowly but surely doing better.  I still can't sit for prolonged periods and am not very comfortable doing so.  But I am walking better thankfully.

Enter in the lessons within the lesson taught through God's discipline... 

The Lord brought to my remembrance my attitude just a few days earlier about my lonely day and although He turned it around for me in the moment, I realized how different my initial attitude would have been toward that particular day had I been experiencing the pain and stiffness I was when it was at its worst.  I would have relished a day to just lay on the couch all day - ALONE...

I realized my lack of gratitude toward the simple functions of my body, like sleeping, walking and sitting!   I am without excuse not to be grateful for EVERYTHING in my life, no matter how routine or functional it is!

I also became painfully aware, pun intended, that because I rarely, if ever, suffer from physical ailments such as this, that I can lack compassion and understanding for those who do.  The Lord is refining me through His loving discipline to share His holiness and to be of encouragement to others who suffer in the same manner through how He encouraged me.

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. 

When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

2 Corinthians 1:4

I found myself complaining and thinking to myself, "Well, I KNEW the other shoe was going to drop!"  As I read the verse above in Hebrews I was convicted that those thought processes are showing a great lack of respect for my Heavenly Father.   

For He ordains all the painful circumstances that touch my life through Godly discipline so that I may live!

We are reminded in the passage from Hebrews that for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but in that same passage we are promised that life comes with God's discipline.

When we are in the midst of suffering, it can feel like it will never end.   

To be transparent, these thoughts have recently crossed my mind, "Will I ever walk normal again??"  "Will I ever be able to sleep without pain again??"  "Will I ever be able to sit without pain again??"

But to those who are suffering, we can find great hope in the above verses from Hebrews.  The Lord will redeem our pain for His good purposes.

What if we took the following mindset to be subject to the Father of spirits and LIVE concerning every affliction or difficult circumstance that comes our way?...

What if we remembered that most afflictions won't end in death, but will give life and are only for a moment so that it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it?

What if we faced our affliction with a Heavenly mindset and instead asked ourselves, "What good thing is God teaching me?" "How will God use this affliction to help another?"  "How will I share in His Holiness through this experience"?

The answers to these questions all showcase the great and wonderful purposes God has through us for the Kingdom!

And God loves us so much that He chose the EXACT AND SPECIFIC circumstances that touch our lives to accomplish His Kingdom work!  For we are sons and daughters of the King who have the privilege of receiving His loving discipline so that we might experience the peacefulness of a life lived in obedience to the Lord.

Mrs. Charles Spurgeon shares encouragement regarding God's discipline, of which she was well-acquainted, having struggled through long seasons of affliction...

"The following incident is related by Mrs. Charles Spurgeon, who was a great sufferer for more than a quarter of a century:

“At the close of a dark and gloomy day, I lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on; and though all was bright within my cozy room, some of the external darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I asked, 

“’Why does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?’

“These fretful questions were quickly answered, and through a strange language; no interpreter was needed save the conscious whisper of my heart.

“For a while silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of the oak log burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a sweet, soft sound, a little, clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a robin beneath my window.

“’What can it be? surely no bird can be singing out there at this time of the year and night.’

“Again came the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke our wonder. My friend exclaimed,  “’It comes from the log on the fire!’ The fire was letting loose the imprisoned music from the old oak’s inmost heart!

“Perchance he had garnered up this song in the days when all was well with him, when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since then, and hardened; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heart of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. ’Ah,’ thought I, ’when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from us, then indeed we are purified, and our God is glorified!’

“Perhaps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, insensible; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for the fire which kindles around us, and releases notes of trust in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will.

“’As I mused the fire burned,’ and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely set forth before me.

“Singing in the fire! Yes, God helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these hard apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter than before.”

Streams in the Desert, March 13th

I'd like to sum up this blog post with one final thought.  The purpose of God's discipline varies uniquely to the individual Believer's life, but the overarching purpose for God's discipline in all Believer's lives is to draw them closer to Him...

As Dr. C. stood on a high peak of the Rocky Mountains watching a storm raging below him, an eagle came up through the clouds, and soared away towards the sun and the water upon him glistened in the sunlight like diamonds. Had it not been for the storm he might have remained in the valley. The sorrows of life cause us to rise towards God.

Streams in the Desert, March 14th

What a personal God we have.  One who seeks after us with Amazing Love.

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