Beth Moore — Victory through Chastisement
I want to ask you about something, what happens when some of the suffering that we're going through we know good and well, we caused. I wonder if anybody, just anybody, just one person out there is dealing with any painful consequences. Anybody know what I'm talking about?
Because this is a very complicated matter; isn't it? When we live in that whole regret thing of look what I did to myself! What happens then? How do we deal with that kind of a situation? What do we do when we are fairly certain we are going through a little disciplinary process with God?
Anybody know what I'm talking about? What we call a little time of chastisement with God? How do we deal with that? Because I just want to throw out to you that at times nothing is more complex than that.
I tell you a couple of reasons why I feel led to share with you on this particular topic and study God's word with you where it is concerned. For one thing, because I've dealt with it so often, I know what it is like to just so royally mess up to make so many foolish decisions and to get yourself caught in some long term situations that you know you asked for.
It is a very complicated thing when you're getting healthier and God is putting you back together again but you're still dealing with the old consequences. Maybe somebody can relate. Anybody know what I'm talking about? How do you deal with a mess that you know deep in your heart you made? Does anybody think that is a good question besides me? Because a lot of things -- a lot of things we're victimized by.
Injustices happen but then there are other times when we realize the mess we're in we got ourselves in. That was me -- I was shocked when God began to clean me up and began to heal my heart to find out that people that walked in between the ditches still had problems. I thought every problem I ever had was always a consequence of sin because that's all I'd ever dealt with. So this is just huge to me.
It may be that your example is not that dramatic but let me throw out a couple to you. I can tell you that the most intense time of chastisement, from God I have ever been through in my entire half century of living was over pride and self-righteousness. That was the very thing God was treating in me, not my carnality -- my pride and my selfrighteousness got me into more trouble than anything has ever, ever had an impact on me.
It could be that maybe we were haughty and ugly in a relationship that is now turned back around on us. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Well, now I want to be nice now!
We kept thinking that that spouse or that person was just going to keep taking it. It could be a poor business or financial decision. Anybody know what I'm talking about, that you think, I'm still dealing with that! I'm still dealing with that! Maybe somebody can get that. Or proceeding with something that we had a warning in our heart about that we knew -- anybody besides me ever gone, "God told me not to do that!" I knew in my gut, something told me, do not -- do not proceed with that and I did.
Or it may be something huge like a infidelity or a secret life of some kind. What do we do then when we get caught in whatever way we might get caught? It catches up with us and we start dealing with our consequences. What do we do then? What do we do when we're going through a time of chastisement?
I think that is an extremely significant and important question because you need to know your place with God and your place in the body of Christ.