If ...Then

“You must serve only the LORD your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives. [Exodus 23.25-26]

Now, that's a promise!

Let's reverse-engineer it though. IF there are no blessings of food and water, and there are illnesses, miscarriages, infertility, and short, unfulfilled lives, THEN that would indicate that "only the LORD" has NOT been served. Right?

Here is my point: too often we ignore the absence of what God said would be blessings by dismissing our role in the absence of those blessings. In other words, instead of reading the situation for what it is, hunger, illness, and general trouble - indicators of waywardness (pertaining to devotion to God according to the passage above), we deny guilt (as if we could know our own hearts - which the Bible says we cannot) and then we have the arrogant audacity to remain unrepentant.

I'm just as sick and laden with troubles as the next guy... But somehow, the more I actually read the Bible (as opposed to letting everyone else tell me what it means based on their 'higher knowledge,' doctrine, or understanding, the more I see just how proud and unrepentant we are.

I don't need someone to encourage me that God doles out troubles because He loves me. I need to repent and I need forgiveness so that I might experience what GOD SAID I would experience if I am faithful to Him!

Fast forward... Repentance is only part of it though. Repentance is partner with forgiveness. Think about the Model Prayer Jesus taught - yes, the part about, "Forgive us, as we forgive..." We have a responsibility to repent and we have a responsibility to forgive. IF we do not forgive (as Christ demonstrated to us!), THEN our repentance (and subsequent forgiveness) is null and void.

Back now to the book of Job... Had Job's friends been forgiving as part of their "camaraderie" instead of condemning their friend (well-intention-ed as it was), their later rebuke by God might not have been necessary. What if Job's friends, like Stephen of the New Testament had prayed, "God, please do not hold against Job anything he has done or that is in his heart (because he doesn't know what he is doing)..."? 

Had good ol' Job (good as he apparently was on the outside - where integrity is seen as God Himself pointed out) repented first instead of declaring innocence (as if he could know his own heart - which God Himself says we cannot - and God proved to Job he could not), then his story might have been much different.

Until we establish in our own lives that what God says about obedience and disobedience is for real, we are bound to confusion, doctrinal division, and worse, troublesome lives. Until we "call a spade a spade" we are destined to an exponentially downward spiral of confusion and misunderstanding of God's simple call to obedience (suffering).

My earthly dad never whipped me just for whipping's sake. He ONLY whipped me when I had done unacceptable things! Oh, it hurt, and, yes, I knew he loved me (and that was ultimately why he was whipping me), but I also knew I needed to make some changes! I needed to stop doing whatever it was that brought the belt out! I needed to repent or else expect 'more of the same.'

If we are known as anything as Christians, shouldn't it be that we are known to be humble, repentant, and therefore blessed by our God? Is it actually right that we look like, sound like, suffer like the rest of the world? Israel didn't (as long as they were obedient). Jesus didn't. And, so, we should not either.

So, where does that leave us? We have a whole lot of repenting and forgiving to do. Before God, what will it hurt to do so? Nothing.

But wait! There's more! MUCH MORE! Jesus is and was our obedience! So why aren't we free from suffering? Here we go again... will we proudly declare our "perfect" faith, or will we admit that our circumstances indicate that our faith is not what it should be? Yes, it is entirely possible that we need to repent for our lack of faith, But, I am guessing more often it is not a lack of faith that troubles us as much as it is a lack of forgiveness.

Christianity easy? Not really - but the way is however straight, albeit very narrow.

Father, I know one thing: I do NOT know the depravity of my own heart. And so, I know I must repent and forgive because things in my life say I should do so. I don't want to make excuses in my troubles,  and I don't want to blame You. I want and need to repent.