25 January 2010

Psalms of Solomon 10

Sadly, I am ubable to copy the Psalm, but you can see it at:http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/31-pssal-nets.pdf

It starts out, "Blesed is th eman whom the Lord remembers with reproving, who is fenced from the evil road by a whip."

This is not the way we think of God. We think of God as love, but we often do not consider what that love truly means. Do you love your children? Sure, everyone does. Do our actions with them always look loving. Not always. When we are slapping their hand or telling them no, it does not always look loving, but it is something that needs to be done. A child who never learned the words "no" or "stop" can be in danger. He or she might be about to put their hands on the hot stove, and we can holler at them to stop, but if they never learned to obey, they will burn their hand. Better to have been swatted a couple of times than to have third degree burns. The same with us. We do not really know what the life to come is going to be like, but one can be sure that being strong and being self disciplined will be part of it. God wants us to grow in knowledge and strength. Just as we learn things from being punished, so do we build up our spiritual muscles by using them to resist that which is evil. Those who never had to resist, often have no power to resist when put in spiritual danger.

We also have to develop our hearts. Again, "Fr the Lord is kind to those who endure discipline." When David sinned, did he blame the devil, or his friends?" No, he admitted his wrong doing and repented to the Lord. An attitude of submission. I fear for some people and some groups. When they are corrected, they get angry instead of accepting the correction. We need to be like David. When we sin, we need to say, "I am the man who sinned against God" and repent, just as David told us.

God is continually with those who accept correction. Their hearts have changed, and God will give that change an opportunity to grow and transform lives. When we do this, we will find the everlasing joy.