"Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty." Job 5:17 NKJV

Now, how many of us actually enjoy being chastised, either from our spouse, our boss, our teacher?

But the Bible says that when the Lord does it, the recipient is happy! Why is that?

Perhaps it is because God knows our hearts, and will never needlessly wound us. Sometimes He is direct, sometimes He speaks to us gently, but He knows what is the best message to reach us with the knowledge of His will.

Job had plenty of reasons to grieve, after losing all his material goods and his family in one swoop. In Bible times he tore his clothing and covered himself with ashes. Today he would be one of our homeless, naked and penniless. Even his friends did nothing to help him but only added insult to injury with their misunderstanding of God's character.

The person who puts his/her trust in God is indeed happy, even in times of misfortune. That is because s/he has decided to leave consequences and the ultimate bigger picture to the Lord.

I kinda hate to say it, but it sounds strangely familiar to Karl Marx's "religion is the opium of the people."

I must be missing something...

I think many of us have lost it all at least once. we can relate to Job, I know I certainly can!

And, for myself I must be a slow learner because it took being "down and out" three times before I understood that there was nothing to fear, but fear itself. God always provided and returned more than was lost.

I remember the story of Tommy Dorsey, the Father of Gospel Music.
At 32 his wife was at the point of delivering their first child.
He was invited to sing at a Chicago evangelistic meetings.
He left his wife and sang several songs. When he sat down to rest, a Western Union telegram was handed to him. The message
was short: Your wife has just died.
Tommy was crushed. He returned home the following day to find out that his wife delivered a boy the previous night. He was delighted mixed with sorrow. But that night his first child also died.
Tommy became really bitter against God. He thought it was not fair of Him. He remained in doors for days not wanting to meet anyone. In fact, he decided to return to his former world of Jazz and worldly music.
His friend Professor Fry did not leave him alone. One day he invited him to visit the Marlone Polo School of Music. While sitting at the piano there in his utter grief, and playing his fingers on the keys without any thought of playing anything, suddenly he was inspired to compose a new tune and music. The following words just flow into his mind effortlessly:

Precious Lord,
take my hand…
lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak,
I am worn,
Through the storm,
through the night
lead me on to the light, Take my hand,
precious Lord, Lead me home.

That was the birth of one of the most loved Christian song which has comforted thousand of suffering Christians.

The All-loving God will never let His children suffer, unless with that suffering we can be refined and as the result we can bring glory to His name and be a means of strengthening and saving other people.

My friend, Dr. John Lizal, one of the elders of our church in Makassar, Indonesia, had a mother who was suffering from breast cancer which has spread into her lung. Just before she died she was hospitalized for months with severe pain. But she never showed it to anyone. In fact she was always smiling and witnessing to her fellow patients in that hospital about the love of God. At funeral several of those patients attended the memorial service, and tesfified how she has been an encouragement and blessing to them.

If we have to suffer for Him in this world, the Bible says it is a privilege instead of a burden or punishment. When we arrived in that glorious land of bliss, we will look back and thank Him for that privilege, and would gladly repeat the experience if necessary.

Yes, life is just not the same for the Christian, is it?

Thanks for sharing, Sammy!