Sometimes when we entreat God to get us out of pain and suffering, God says “No” – yet even his “No” is the route to ultimate healing.
For instance, how many times have you sinned and then cried out to God to get you out of the trouble you got yourself into? I know I have done so – many times. In times like this, God might tell us, “NO; YOU MUST FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR SIN.”
It’s like David after he committed adultery and murder. “Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died” (2 Samuel 12:15-18).
When God struck the child born of David and Bathsheba’s immoral union with sickness, David prayed earnestly for God to heal his child. But God said, “No, you must face the consequences of your sin.” And the child died.
Facing the consequences of our sin is an important part of the healing process if our hurt has been caused by disobedience to God’s will. Consequences help us to remember that sin always brings pain and death. Consequences remind us of the serious nature of sin, and that it cannot be played around with. Consequences draw us closer to God when we ask for his grace to walk through the consequences.
Remember this: although God may say, “No, you must face the consequences of your sin,” it doesn’t mean that he deserts us. When we submit to his righteous judgment and the consequences of our sin and ask him to help us, he will give us the grace to come out both HOLY and WHOLE on the other side. Just like David did, we will be able to sing songs of God’s unending faithfulness, his overwhelming lovingkindness, and his matchless grace.
But there is an alternative. We may choose the path of anger, bitterness, resentment, and even hatred against God because he chose not to remove the just consequences for our sin. In that case, we get all the pain of the punishment, and none of its benefit for us. Choose life!