"Big Bite"

"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." (Psalms 119:67)

  I think it is pretty obvious where this is going; hopefully it won't hurt to much, and hopefully there will be some lasting effect. Sometimes we need a little intervention, motivation, or a huge amount of reexamination, whatever it takes to get us to snap out of our comfort zone and put us back into the fight. Simply put, if we don't have something to shake us up, we tend to get a little comfortable wearing the things that weigh us down. Maybe you don't quite understand where I am going with this, and maybe you have not had anything disturb your perfect little life, yet. Be that as it may, if you don't have a big enough bite into the Word of God; if the Word of God is not the most important thing that you have in your life, then it is going to hurt a lot more than you think it will! Our light affliction is really only for a very short while; but as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, it works for us a far more valuable and eternal weight of glory; much more than we could ever know or see. If we could only see beyond are personal surrounding, we would realize how small and temporal these light afflictions actually are. Imagine if you were one of those that followed Jesus to the cross and witnessed His death. Was it something that made you feel as though God couldn't be real? And if He was real, why would He allow this to happen to someone that did nothing but good for so many people? What you would have witnessed, if you truly were His follower, is something that would literally rip your heart out and take away every single once of hope you might have had in a fair and just God. But! Hold on to your God with all of your might, because what things may appear, are not what they actually are! I can't but help think of what Jesus said to the two disciples that were walking, talking about all the terrible things that had happened in Jerusalem, He said, "What things?" What was it about what happened that makes you so sad and hopeless? That is pretty much what Jesus was asking them, because from His perspective, everything went perfectly fine...

"For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening -it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong." (Hebrews 12:10-13) NLT