"Happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore don't despise the chastening (spankings) of the Almighty. For He makes sore, and bandages up." Job 5:17, 18
It was 1966. I had rededicated my life to the Lord just months early and was attending my first year in Bible College in Los Angeles to prepare for ministry. One Sunday morning, I was driving my little VW bug down the Santa Ana freeway in the rain headed for a church service in Anaheim. With rock and roll music blaring on the radio, I felt rebellion rising up within me. I don't know what all I was planning that day, but I was enjoying the feeling of my old nature bubbling again to the surface. Suddenly, my car lost its traction in the rain and skidded to the side of the road. I regained my composure and slowly took off again. "Was God trying to tell me something?" I wondered to myself (gulping!).
I was soon cruising again at 65 MPH with the radio blaring out loud; base and drums feeding that rising feeling of rebellion again. Without warning, my car slid in the rain again, twirled completely in a circle, my door slinging wide open (and that was the days when no one wore seat belts!), finally coming again to a standstill at the side of the road. I got it! God was not pleased with his teenage future preacher enjoying a moment of rebellion. I repented of my sin and still trembling drove slowly the rest of the way to church. And I was soon at the altar crying and further repenting before the Lord. That was the first spanking I ever received from the Father. But, (and I'm not proud of this), I've had many since!
God spanks His children. As today's devotional verse explains, He "makes them sore" (to correct them) and then lovingly "bandages" them up. God intends us to spank our children to correct them too: "Foolishness in bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction will drive it far from him." (Prov. 22:15). A school principal told my teacher brother-in-law, Tom, "The biggest mistake we ever made was taking the paddle out of the school." Progressive liberals have convinced most states that spanking is a form of "abuse". But, the Lord says, "If you beat him with the rod, he won't die. You beat him with the rod and will deliver his soul from Hell." (Prov. 23:13, 14).
When God spanks us (through painful trials, embarrassing experiences, loss of our toys, etc.), He too is doing it to help "deliver our soul from Hell." Could my relatively innocent rock and roll moment of rebellion have become a seed that germinated into drugs, alcohol, or extra-marital sex? Only God knows, but it was apparently important enough to Him to "spank" me that day.
Like Job, I am a "happy man" that the Lord corrected me back then. It proved He loves me and has my best interests in mind: "Whoever the Lord loves, he corrects." (Prov. 3:11, 12). Today, if you're "sore" over something, you need to search your heart and ask the Lord, "Lord, are you spanking me through this? And, if you are, what do you want me to do?" That day 42 years ago, I repented, changed my attitude before God, turned off the radio, and drove slowly down the freeway. Do you need to repent of anything? Do you need to change your attitude before God? Is there anything you need to "turn off"? Do you need to slow down? Thank God, though America may outlaw the paddle, God still uses His! Is He using it on you now?
Prayer: "Father, spank me when I need it. And, if you are spanking me now, reveal to me how to avert your correction."
Confession: "God loves me. And, I love Him. If He spanks me, I'll receive my correction."
It was 1966. I had rededicated my life to the Lord just months early and was attending my first year in Bible College in Los Angeles to prepare for ministry. One Sunday morning, I was driving my little VW bug down the Santa Ana freeway in the rain headed for a church service in Anaheim. With rock and roll music blaring on the radio, I felt rebellion rising up within me. I don't know what all I was planning that day, but I was enjoying the feeling of my old nature bubbling again to the surface. Suddenly, my car lost its traction in the rain and skidded to the side of the road. I regained my composure and slowly took off again. "Was God trying to tell me something?" I wondered to myself (gulping!).
I was soon cruising again at 65 MPH with the radio blaring out loud; base and drums feeding that rising feeling of rebellion again. Without warning, my car slid in the rain again, twirled completely in a circle, my door slinging wide open (and that was the days when no one wore seat belts!), finally coming again to a standstill at the side of the road. I got it! God was not pleased with his teenage future preacher enjoying a moment of rebellion. I repented of my sin and still trembling drove slowly the rest of the way to church. And I was soon at the altar crying and further repenting before the Lord. That was the first spanking I ever received from the Father. But, (and I'm not proud of this), I've had many since!
God spanks His children. As today's devotional verse explains, He "makes them sore" (to correct them) and then lovingly "bandages" them up. God intends us to spank our children to correct them too: "Foolishness in bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction will drive it far from him." (Prov. 22:15). A school principal told my teacher brother-in-law, Tom, "The biggest mistake we ever made was taking the paddle out of the school." Progressive liberals have convinced most states that spanking is a form of "abuse". But, the Lord says, "If you beat him with the rod, he won't die. You beat him with the rod and will deliver his soul from Hell." (Prov. 23:13, 14).
When God spanks us (through painful trials, embarrassing experiences, loss of our toys, etc.), He too is doing it to help "deliver our soul from Hell." Could my relatively innocent rock and roll moment of rebellion have become a seed that germinated into drugs, alcohol, or extra-marital sex? Only God knows, but it was apparently important enough to Him to "spank" me that day.
Like Job, I am a "happy man" that the Lord corrected me back then. It proved He loves me and has my best interests in mind: "Whoever the Lord loves, he corrects." (Prov. 3:11, 12). Today, if you're "sore" over something, you need to search your heart and ask the Lord, "Lord, are you spanking me through this? And, if you are, what do you want me to do?" That day 42 years ago, I repented, changed my attitude before God, turned off the radio, and drove slowly down the freeway. Do you need to repent of anything? Do you need to change your attitude before God? Is there anything you need to "turn off"? Do you need to slow down? Thank God, though America may outlaw the paddle, God still uses His! Is He using it on you now?
Prayer: "Father, spank me when I need it. And, if you are spanking me now, reveal to me how to avert your correction."
Confession: "God loves me. And, I love Him. If He spanks me, I'll receive my correction."
"God Spanks Naughty Kids"
By Evangelist Dea Warford
By Evangelist Dea Warford
Helping equip God's people to minister
more effectively to the lost in their community.
more effectively to the lost in their community.
Evangelist Dea Warford
