Who Wants Pain?

Proverbs 20: ³⁰ Blows and wounds scrub away evil,
    and beatings purge the inmost being.

============

Sitting by the window was probably the worst thing I could do. I would stare outside, longing to be in the fresh air, then like a clap of thunder, the teacher would inevitably call me back into reality. “Why do I have to go to school anyway?” I said in fourth grade.

• Sometimes I feel like giving up and taking the easy route.
• Sometimes I want vacation instead of work.
• Sometimes I desire resting in a meadow of laziness rather than plowing a field of work.

I decided not to go to attend class when I went to college. My grades suffered and I was told I may not graduate. I had to buckle down and study. It was painful. I decided to start going to school and found it to actually be easier than I thought.

• GOD has shown me that I need to be disciplined in order to stay on HIS path.
• GOD has shown me that I sometimes need a whooping in order to get focused.
• GOD has shown me that nothing in life comes easy and my focus should be HIM.

Bumps and bruises in life teach me that I need GOD every step of the way. HE takes my evil behavior and turns it into righteousness by allowing a little turmoil in my life. My desire gets purged and I can then praise HIM.

• Are you going through a beating in life right now?
• Have you ever done evil in your life?
• Can you change your course and follow GOD the way HE wants you to follow HIM?
• Will you accepts the blows and wounds as a method of purging instead of punishing?