Torn and Smitten part 1
It kind of bums me out a little bit that I feel the need to Rant about this... but... it seems like a large majority of people--especially "religious folk"--are ready, willing, and able (and even happy!) to blame God for the things that happen to them. Even so far as talking about physical illness either being a punishment from God, or "all part of His plan." I can't stress strongly enough that what God has given us (even though we seemingly haven't accepted it to the point that we can walk in it) is divine health. Isaiah 53:5 says, "But he was wounded for out transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." And then that truth is echoed in 1 Peter 2:24, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." Did you catch that? We ARE healed. We WERE healed. Past tense. On the cross. Through the cross. But we've twisted this to mean, "Healing is available if we just jump through this, that, and the other hoop." We put everything out in our future, or we disqualify ourselves from everything that available to us. And that's tragic. We still want to live under the Old Covenant system of earning our bread by the sweat of our brows. Doing good and being rewarded. Doing evil and being punished. But look at those two verses again, because this is what I really want to hit in this Rant series. HE was wounded. HE bare our sins on the cross. HE was bruised. The chastisement of OUR peace was on HIM. Jesus did all of the heavy lifting. He didn't finish the work so that we could finish the work. He finished the work so that we could rest. So that we could stop our works and labors and simply be still and know that HE is God. So here's my key passage for this Rant series: "Come, and let us return to the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he was bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hosea 6:1-2). We think we need a Job story, where we get beat down, busted, broken, and disgusted before anything good can happen. But Job's life was good BEFORE anything else. He didn't earn anything by going though his tribulations. He was restored, yes, and the Bible tells us that the end was greater than the beginning. But God doesn't work on a performance system. In fact, He likes to pick unlikely candidates to do His will. Because availability is more important than ability. If you're willing, He's able! So we look at a passage in Hosea and we think He will tear US. But that's not what it says. We think we need to get torn before we can get healed. And sometimes you do have to hit rock bottom before you can start the journey back home. Sometimes you need to be in a position where there's no where else TO go but up. But I don't think God necessarily puts us there. I think WE put ourselves there. Because our actions DO have consequences. But God DOES NOT punish His children. The tearing and the smiting, in reality, was what WE did to God. And He STILL healed us and bound us up. True parents never want to hurt their children. They will chasten and correct them, teach them. Train them up in the way they should go. But we need to break away from this idea that God is tearing and smiting us just so He can heal and bind us. The WORLD tries to tear us down and smite us. Our heavenly Father picks us back up. Holds us up. And keeps us from falling!