God Does Not Deal With Us In
This Sentimental Way By J.R. Miller A Canaanite woman from
that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, son of David, have
mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly
from demon possession. Jesus did not answer her a word. Matthew 15, 22. We are apt to forget that the
aim of God with us is not to flood us with tenderness all
the time, not to keep our path always strewn with flowers, not
to continually give us everything we want, not to save us from
all manner of suffering. No, God's aim with us is to make
something of us, to build up strong and noble character in
us, to mature qualities of grace and beauty in us, to make us
more like Christ. To do this, He must oftentimes
deny us what we ask for and must seem indifferent to our cries. Jesus did not answer her a word. There are sentimental ideas of
God prevalent which are dishonoring to Him. There are those who imagine
that God's love means tenderness that cannot cause pain. They
think that He cannot look a moment on suffering without relieving
it, that He must instantly hear and answer every cry for the
removal of trouble. Not such a God is the God of
the Bible. When suffering is the best thing
for us, He is not too sympathetic to let us suffer until the work
of suffering is accomplished in us. He is not too kind to
be silent to our prayers when it is better that He should be
silent for a time, to allow faith to grow strong, self-confidence
to be swept away, and the evil in us to be burnt out in the
furnace of pain. There is a danger with all of
us. Our tenderness lacks strength. We cannot tolerate to see people
suffer, and so we hasten to give relief before the ministry of
suffering is accomplished. We think of our mission to others
as being only to make life easier for them. We are continually
lifting away burdens which it were better to have left resting
longer on our friend's shoulder. We are eager to make life easy
for our children, when it were better if it had been left hard. we must learn that God does not
deal with us in this sentimental way. He is not too tender to
see us suffer, if more suffering is needed, to work in us the
discipline that will make us like Christ. Here we have the
key of many of the mysteries of providence. Life is not easy
for us, and God does not intend it to be easy. Suppose for a
moment that God immediately gave us everything we ask for, and
immediately removed every little pain, trouble, difficulty, and
hardness that we seek to have removed. What would be the result
on us? How selfish it would make us!
We would become weak, unable to endure suffering, to bear
trial, to carry burdens, or to struggle. We would be only children
always, and would never rise into manly strength. God's overkindness
to us would pamper in us all the worse elements of our nature,
and make us only poor driveling creatures. On the other hand,
however, God's wise and firm treatment of us teaches us the
great lessons which make us strong with the strength of Christ Himself. He teaches us to yield our own
will to Him. He develops in us patience, faith,
love, hope, and peace. He trains us to endure hardness,
that we may grow heroic, courageous, and strong. It is well for us
to make careful note of this, that in all God's delays when
we pray, His aim is some good in us. Perhaps we are willful,
asking only for our own way, and must learn to say, May your
will be done. Perhaps we are weak, unable to
bear pain or to endure adversity or loss, and we must be trained
and disciplined into strength. Perhaps our desires are only
for earthly good, not for heavenly blessings, and we must be taught
the transistory character of all worldly things and led to
desire things which are eternal. Perhaps we are impatient and
must be taught to wait for God. We are like children in our eager
restlessness and need to learn self-restraint. At the least,
we may always know that silence is not refusal, that God hears
and cares, and that when our faith has learned its lessons,
He will answer in blessing. The LORD disciplines the one
He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives. Hebrews
12.6 God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His
holiness. Hebrews 12.10