"Hands On Relationship"

"Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;" (Psalms 94:12)
I thought about not breaking 12 & 13 up, but after reading this verse in the NLT, I decided it would need special treatment. Having been walking with the LORD for going on 36 years, I have had enough experience with what discipline and trials look like; but the one thing that they have in common, is that you are never really out of God's control and care. Trials are usually things that are brought on by adversity and attacks from the enemy; which, whether we know it or not, those trials are allowed by God. He might not wish them upon us; no parent would ever wish that their child would have to suffer through anything that brings pain and suffering; and our God is a loving Father who does not allow anything to happen that He does not feel we can be strengthened by. That said, it has been my experience, after having been in leadership in the church for twenty years, that those who do not come out of a trial better than they went into one, are usually people that were not right to begin with; they usually were those who were trusting in God for the wrong reasons, whether that be for blessings in their business, or with their family, or maybe just wanting to be a better person. Those are nice things to look forward to, but they are not why we are called to give our lives to the Lord. We have given our lives to the Lord, primarily because God loves us, gave Himself for us, and has given us eternal life, in that order; putting all things aside, it is His love for us that matters the most, that is what He has demonstrated by sending His Son to die on that cross. Discipline is all God's doing, and He does it because He wants to teach us instruction! I heard a message yesterday by Pastor Alistair, in which he spoke about all those counties in the world today where it is illegal to discipline your children; and we here in the United States are not quite there yet, but we are very close. Meantime, you have children that talk back to their parents, boss their parents around, and some even physically hurt or kill their parents if they don't get what they want. It all comes down to a simple thing called fear in the form of reverence; if there is no discipline, then there is no reverence for instruction; it's all just gripping and complaining without reason. When I was growing up there was a reason we did not do what we were told not to do, and it usually came in the form of a spanking...
"And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, "My child, don't make light of the LORD'S discipline, and don't give up when he corrects you. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child." As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all." (Hebrews 12:5-8) NLT