GROUNDED
Question: Who praises and thanks God that he doesn’t have a headache?
Answer: The guy who has had a terrible series of headaches for the last week and finally has relief. That would be me. It takes pain to make me realize what a blessing it is to be healthy.
Bigger question: Why do we get headaches, cancer, pain, or death? Why would God create man in His image and then subject him to these things?
Think about it on a personal level—your teenager for instance. You love “it” (a teenager is an it), but it is in rebellion usually. It wants to go its own way, make its own decisions, and break the rules (and your heart). Therefore, it is necessary to subject the teenager to discipline because w/o pain it will never return, never realize what a blessing it is to be “healthy”. You ground the teenager, which limits their freedom, deprives them of the opportunity to be as wild as they want, and makes them temporarily angry with you.
When Job was suffering he asked, “Why?” When Habakkuk was angry, he asked “How long O Lord?” God’s answer to both was not specific, but He made clear that He was in control and it all had a purpose, an eternal purpose. Just as the teenager can’t understand what his parents are doing with all their rules, neither can we understand a world of pain and death. In every biblical story whether it’s Abraham, Job, David, or Habakkuk each suffered, but God was on His throne, and God has an eternal plan that we all are subject to.
The thing about being “grounded” is being hemmed in, contained, and limited in time. The good news is that once we are no longer “grounded” we will discover the value of true freedom. We will embrace our Lord and value His rules. We will actually desire to serve Him and glorify Him, but first we must be “grounded” for a time. Therefore what can we say?
- Temporary insanity—this world and the trouble in it is temporary.
- Take your medicine—it is somehow necessary for our correction
- Go for the gold—God has promised that what comes next is wonderful
- Gird your loins—the suffering now is not worthy to be compared to the glory then
- Eyes on the prize—We are to live now based on, looking forward to then
- The Man with the plan—God has a better plan for us than we could ever conceive of
- Attitude of gratitude—Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, remember God’s word to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with theAlmighty ?”
- Find your fortune in faith—“The righteous man will live by faith”
CHARLIE TAYLOR
