For One’s Own Good

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then shall ye call on Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:11-13

What does it take for a person to search for God?  Does someone just wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll see if I can find God and find out what He is all about”?  Or does it take a tragedy to open one’s eyes to the fact that there is a Higher Being who is the sovereign Lord over all?  Do some folks, as Romans 1:20 tells us, notice that there must be something greater than themselves when they look at nature and the world around us and understand that all of this just didn’t happen through some form of evolution as many believe?  For many of us who grew up in church, had Christian parents, and have heard all about God and His love and mercy, have heard of His Son, Jesus Christ, who died to save us from our sins, and understand that we are accountable to Him, have had the trail blazed for us by those who came before us.  However, most of the world’s population live their lives oblivious to the main need for all mankind to have a relationship with the Lord.  They don’t find Him because they don’t seek Him.  One can’t find what they are not looking for.

The above verses were part of a letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders which had been taken captive to Babylon.  His words were meant to encourage the captives that God had not forgotten about them, even though they were being punished for their abandonment of the LORD their God.  God is not vindictive.  He doesn’t punish out of revenge.  Parents punish their children to correct them.  They want to steer their children down the right path to keep them from future trouble.  Parents sometimes say, “This hurts me more than it hurts you!”, but it is kind of difficult to believe that if you’re the one getting whacked on the back side!  I think that it might hurt God more than us when He has to punish us because He wants the best for us.  He wants to bless us, but He can’t if we are being disobedient.  It is a really bad idea to bless a child or ignore him when he is being disobedient.  It makes him think that he can get away with wrongdoing.  That is rewarding him which only perpetuates bad behavior.

When God thinks about us, He projects a life of peace and righteousness for us.  However, if punishment serves its purpose in bringing us closer to the LORD, then we should be thankful that God cares for us that much.  A parent who doesn’t correct his or her child doesn’t really love that child.  A disciplined child is one who feels protected and loved.  The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that the Lord chastens, that is, punishes to bring correction, those who belong to Him.  If we are chastened by Him, it is proof that we belong to Him.  However, if we claim to be a Christian yet our lives exhibit a pattern of sinful behavior, and we are not chastened, then we are “bastards”, illegitimate or counterfeit, not true children of God.  Parents, if they desire to stay out of trouble with the authorities, do not punish their neighbor’s children, although sometimes we wish we could particularly if they are not receiving good discipline from their parents.  God can punish those who are not His children, and He will when the time has come to call sinners into account.  The writer continues by reminding us that we still love and have respect for our earthly parents who corrected us, therefore should we not humbly submit ourselves to our heavenly Father in order to have the best life possible?

The words of the Hebrew writer go a long way in explaining why evildoers seem to be able to continue their evildoing with impunity, with the key word being “seem”.  We wonder how so many are doing what’s right in their own eyes, yet no one is calling them into account in any meaningful way.  Many of those responsible for correction and punishment of wrongdoers have abdicated their responsibilities to keep law and order which basically makes them just as guilty.  Criminals are running free.  Policies are being put forth which for anyone who knows Christ can see that some of these things are ungodly and anti-scriptural, and yet we almost feel as if our hands are tied making us unable to stop the flow of sin and ungodliness.  But we do have an advantage.  As Jeremiah wrote, we can call on the Lord, pray and search for how we are to conduct our lives among the chaos that goes on all around us.  When we truly seek Him, He will make Himself known to us.  He is a loving Father to all those who know Him through Christ.  I am so thankful that I have a Lord and Savior who cares about me.  If He didn’t care, He would just leave me to go my own unwise way.  That’s a scary thought.