A few days ago I was feeling depressed. Sometimes I fall into fear, which God allows so that I cling to Him. If I focus on Him, I rebound back, but those times of feeling oppressed are never fun.
Anyways, that afternoon I began noticing a sharp pain in my back when I inhaled. It was noticeable when talking and inhaling normally, and pretty painful if I breathed deeply. I wondered why I had this pain, and went down struggling into more doubt and oppression.
I was resting on the couch at that time and felt compelled to visit the Quickened Word website. I clicked on a recent article subtitled as, "God is comforted when He relents". As I continued to read, the article said that relent means to, "exhale deeply". I realized the connections with God's relenting and my own back pain. In hindsight, He gave me this minor problem to really make a point and drive home a lesson for me. He is good, and He wants us to learn His law.
"I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75
It was a testament to God's faithfulness that He gave me breathing problems. Our discipline is designed for a future victory, so that God's grace and mercy can deliver us into truth once again.
In this case, God was telling me that He wanted to relieve me from my oppression. I realized that He wanted to help me overcome...no, He wanted to overcome for me! He desired that I stay more sensitive to Him. The fear I fell into was a form of discipline, but the Lord was telling me that He desired to teach me in softer ways. He was relenting and having mercy on me!
After I realized His loving view of my situation, I understood the point. God does not delight in stern discipline or our anxiety, but He can cause it if we wander too far. We need to stay in the fold, and stay under the protection of the blood of Jesus. He reminded me of this point thanks to the Quickened Word article and my back problems, and once I learned the lesson, I asked Him to take the pain. Like that, it was gone. He really does bear all our diseases. Nonetheless, we need to be delicate to Him, and discerning enough that we accept whatever God wants to show us.
Anyways, that afternoon I began noticing a sharp pain in my back when I inhaled. It was noticeable when talking and inhaling normally, and pretty painful if I breathed deeply. I wondered why I had this pain, and went down struggling into more doubt and oppression.
I was resting on the couch at that time and felt compelled to visit the Quickened Word website. I clicked on a recent article subtitled as, "God is comforted when He relents". As I continued to read, the article said that relent means to, "exhale deeply". I realized the connections with God's relenting and my own back pain. In hindsight, He gave me this minor problem to really make a point and drive home a lesson for me. He is good, and He wants us to learn His law.
"I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75
It was a testament to God's faithfulness that He gave me breathing problems. Our discipline is designed for a future victory, so that God's grace and mercy can deliver us into truth once again.
In this case, God was telling me that He wanted to relieve me from my oppression. I realized that He wanted to help me overcome...no, He wanted to overcome for me! He desired that I stay more sensitive to Him. The fear I fell into was a form of discipline, but the Lord was telling me that He desired to teach me in softer ways. He was relenting and having mercy on me!
After I realized His loving view of my situation, I understood the point. God does not delight in stern discipline or our anxiety, but He can cause it if we wander too far. We need to stay in the fold, and stay under the protection of the blood of Jesus. He reminded me of this point thanks to the Quickened Word article and my back problems, and once I learned the lesson, I asked Him to take the pain. Like that, it was gone. He really does bear all our diseases. Nonetheless, we need to be delicate to Him, and discerning enough that we accept whatever God wants to show us.
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