Discouraging Thought: Does God punish us?
Encouraging Truth: "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him" - Psalm 103:8 - 11
I worded my thought as a question because I've heard both sides of the arguement, and have often wondered myself if in fact God punishes us for our sins by allowing or even causing bad things to happen. Obviously, there will be consequenses for our actions, good and bad. But I'm talking about what you hear some people say about bad things that happen in someone's life, 'They must have done something wrong to derserve that!' I do believe God admonishes us and tries to show us our sins. But as far as 'bad things' such as accidents or tradgedies, these verses clearly point to God not punishing us. When you think about it, I guess it makes sense. He is our heavenly Father and loves us more than we could imagine. A loving father corrects and guides, but would never hurt or harm his children. He gives us far better than we deserve!
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we can not know God's heart and that He does chastise us. I wasn't saying He doesn't. The examples you listed (especially Moses) I view as chastisement - I don't really think of them as tragedies (Eli went to heaven). In my opinion, we as Christians don't have to worry about God putting us in a car accident or causing a miscarriage because we sinned. Those things may happen and even may be consequences of our sinful decisions, but I believe if we have a repentant heart, those things aren't punishment. We've already been washed in the blood. Of course bad things are going to happen because we live in a fallen world - and obviously, there are consequences to actions.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is a bad post. I still firmly believe what I learned that day, but I can see that it was not written well, and is missing lots of information. I don't expect this to be a theological/expert opinion. I just share what God shows me and what applies in my life. So it may come across incorrectly simply because I can't express all my thoughts in writing. I'm also not researching every reference on a certain matter. I was just reading in Psalms and it really applied to my thought life that day. :)
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ReplyDelete"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." - Hebrews 8:12
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