We oftentimes fall into affliction from our enemies when we disobey God. God is so righteous and powerful that he would not use a righteous person to afflict his children, he uses the unrighteous, unsaved, Hellenistic people of the world to punish us: it is this affliction, which causes us to repent. Upon repentance we are received back into God's grace and given a time of peace. This time of peace is intended to be permanent but will only last as long as our faithfullness lasts, because God is even more faithful to his word. II Samuel 7:10 says, “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, “
It is important to note here that it is the will of God for this peace/rest to be permanent, but because of sin and disobedience Israel fell back into the hands of their enemies time and time again as we do today. God confirms this in the 14th verse and says, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:” So we see and know that the rod of men is related to the rod of God because even the children of darkness must obey his will. As children of light we should be even more willing to obey, but the heathen in this respect are more obedient to God than us and their obedience leads to our punishment, or is it that our disobedience leads to our punishment? The self righteous person will choose the first over the latter...
Dissobedience leads to our punishment. We cannot compromise God's standards and commandments. Saul is a good example of the pattern and consequences of disobedience and how one could rationalize to satisfy flesh.
ReplyDeleteGood post, I feel like more is there...
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