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“Now any discipline is no longer pleasant, but seems painful; yet those who receive it receive the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11).<\/p>\n
Sometimes it is through difficulty that God draws our attention and prepares us to learn from Him. Not everyone has to experience difficulty to become receptive to God, but many of us do. Many of us have to be \u201ctrained\u201d by God\u2019s chastisement. And though it is not “pleasant for the present,” it “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” later, as the Hebrew writer said.<\/p>\n
It’s often ours attitude<\/em> It needs to be adjusted before God’s Word can have too much influence on us. If we are accustomed to thinking in worldly terms, we are not open to God’s perspective. We have to learn the hard way that we are not paying enough attention to reality. Our minds have to be open to trials and tribulations, and sometimes we are not yet receptive.<\/p>\n One of our most hindering attitudes is the insistence that we already know what we need to know. We are not teachable because we do not see need<\/em> to be taught. We would rather teach ourselves than be taught, and we spend the greatest part of our energy molding the world around us to our thinking. As busy as we are, we don’t have time to listen.<\/p>\n And so, through the Psalmist, God says to us: \u201cBe still, and know that I am God\u201d (Psalm 46:10). Unless we are at peace, we will not have proper reverence for God, and peace in God’s school cannot be something we are willing to accept. We may be forced to remain still in the \u201cpreschool\u201d of pain and suffering.<\/p>\n But if we have trouble being still enough to hear God, we also have trouble being still. Instead of closing our mouths and listening, we talk and talk and talk: informing God of what we want to do, explaining to Him the uniqueness of our situation, and sometimes even questioning His management of the universe. Is it any wonder that we cannot hear the truth? Is it any wonder that God had to confine us to a corner and press His loving hand over our mouths until we would stop writhing and listen?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen God leaves us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, illness, or failed desires, broken friendships, or new friendships \u2013 when He leaves us all alone, and we are left completely speechless, unable to ask a single question, then He begins to teach us\u201d (Oswald Chambers).<\/p>\n Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com<\/a><\/p>\n