The psalmist wrote, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees” (Psalm 119:71). In Hebrews we read, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son” (Hebrews 12:5-6).
Sometimes we forget that God rules all of the circumstances of our lives, and we look at the problems and trials in our lives as bad luck and that these events have no particular spiritual meaning. At other times we may look at these problems as trials of our faith. But these verses of Scripture remind us that we are making a mistake if we do not find in our troubles the chastisement of God. It is true that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, but this does not remove God’s right to discipline us when we live ungodly lives and the punishment which may be required to get us back on the right path in life.
God’s discipline can come to us in different ways and degrees. It may be some kind of disease of our body, distress of our mind, the loss of our property, injury of our character, the wickedness of our children, the faithlessness of our friends, and in any other way that God sees fit to discipline us. Many times we find ourselves disappointed because things are not going the way we had planned, not knowing that even our troubles are sometimes God ordained. As we look at Scripture we can discover some of the Lord’s purposes in the afflictions that come into our lives.
When we look at afflictions in our lives as punishment from God, we don’t always see the goodness of God in the problems that He allows to come into our lives. We often see these problems as a lack of God’s love for us or that God has forsaken us. But, in reality, the opposite is true; the Lord afflicts us when we go astray. As the psalmist wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray” (Psalm 119:67). The Lord uses discipline to get us back on the right path when we are straying into dangerous or forbidden areas.
When we study the life of the apostle Paul, it is obvious that he was a very strong-willed man, nobody could have gone through all of the persecutions and sufferings that Paul went through unless he had an extremely strong will. When Paul and Barnabus were preparing to go on their second missionary journey, they got into a dispute with each other because Barnabus wanted to take John Mark. But because John Mark had deserted them on their first missionary journey, Paul was determined that he was not going to take this young man again. The contention became so great between Paul and Barnabus that Paul took Silas and went through Syria and Cilicia, and Barnabus took John Mark and sailed for Cyprus. Here is this strong will of Paul, he was not going to give in and take John Mark, even to the separation of his companionship with Barnabus, as they went their separate ways.
Sometimes God uses sickness to keep us from going into forbidden areas or doing forbidden things. Because Paul was so strong-willed, God had to use drastic measures to keep Paul from doing what He didn’t want Paul to do. Paul and his companions wanted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to go (Acts 16:7). How did the Spirit keep them from going to Bithynia? We don’t know for sure, but many Bible scholars believe that Paul became so sick that he couldn’t travel.
Throughout Paul’s life he was afflicted with this “thorn in the flesh” so that he would come to the understanding of the abounding grace of God. Three times Paul pleaded with the Lord to take this affliction away from him, but the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Then Paul said, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul discovered that God’s strength was made perfect in his weakness, and that it was God’s power working through him, not his own strength.
Many times God uses the affliction of disappointment. So often we make our own plans without taking God into consideration. Something we plan to do may look like the thing that will make us rich or famous. But like Joshua with the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:1-16), so often we don’t inquire of the Lord. It is easy for us to get into agreements, situations and deals that God doesn’t want us in and when the whole thing falls apart we are very disappointed. God uses these disappointments so that we will learn His statutes of, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Like any good father, sometimes God has to use discipline to keep us out of trouble. He may keep us from this great deal that we thought would make so much money, and then later on we find out that we would have lost everything we put into it. And God had to go through all of our gripping and complaining over the disappointment. We do not always know what is best for ourselves; we should always seek the Lord’s help and pray for the Lord to guide us.
God wants us to have a good life on this earth, but when we disobey Him, He has every right to discipline us with whatever method He sees fit. We should always be thankful for God’s guidance and protection, even when we don’t get our own way.