Punishment

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The past couple of years have been very troublesome for me, to say the least. Last night I got another blow, which I won't go into details but suffice it to say, I was heartbroken, again. Sometimes I wonder: Am I being punished? Am I doing something that greatly displeases Jesus to the point that He's punishing me?

This morning I awoke to thinking about Job. Remember Job? He did everything right, to the point that the devil felt it necessary to tell God that Job was good only because God blessed him, but if God took everything away, Job would be as bad as everyone else. I'm no Job, I have plenty of areas that definitely need an overhaul...but does God correct us through punishment?

I am a believer in "tough love"...and I do agree that tough situations call for tough measures, HOWEVER, when I think about Job's situation, and how Job's friends kept telling him how he was being punished for something he did, and Job's denials, it makes me realize there is so much to this that I really don't know enough about. Job was a human being, so of course he wasn't perfect, only Jesus could say that He was, and Jesus never flaunted that at anyone, He didn't have to. I find it interesting with many of the cults such as the JW's that bring up the fact that Jesus never said He was God. True...but, if you are perfect, why would you have to keep reminding everyone of it?..., it is just a fact. If people were paying attention (some were) they would have known that Jesus is God incarnate, and that it had to be so to fulfill all the prophecies, which Jesus did.

Anyway, at the end of Job's narrative, we discover that God tells Job that he isn't as perfect as he thinks, but that this wasn't the reason he was going through what he was going through. In the end, Job's friends are humbled by God to realize they were wrong about their assumptions about Job. And in the end, God doubled Job's blessings from what he had before all this trouble hit him. What is interesting is his cattle were all doubled in numbers, but the children which he had after this period of testing were equal in number to the number prior to this testing period.  A bible teacher once pointed out that he had double children too, because this was revealing that his previous children were all saved by God, WOW, that is a huge blessing!

What really stood out to me this morning is that a period of testing is to be endured...you just must suffer through it, praying, trusting, growing in His likeness. 

Jas 1:2  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Jas 1:3  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Jas 1:4  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

Rom 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"
Rom 8:16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Rom 8:17  and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Rom 8:18  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Rom 8:19  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Rom 8:21  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The royalty that monarchs of this earth enjoy is nothing compared to the glory that will be enjoyed when we are with Jesus. We are sons and daughters of the King of kings, we are the true royalty. The royalty of this earth is a sham and a fraud. We are heirs to God's throne! Hallelujah!