In God’s School

God lives and works today. He is a God of love. But because He loves us so much, He also takes the pains to educate and discipline us, even when it hurts.

Why? Listen to today's meditation by Basilea Schlink. Perhaps God intends to do great things with others, but certainly not with me. Otherwise, my life would have to look different.

In the Bible, the Lord has described in many ways what the lives of people look like with whom He has great intentions. Take, for example, the life of Moses. His life shows us this clearly.

Because God intended to do something great in his life, it didn't go, as we so often think it should, straight up. On the contrary, when God has a certain goal in mind for our lives, we often experience painfully that it goes straight down. And this is what Moses experienced.

He was dethroned by God. Because he judged and killed an Egyptian who was unjustly torturing one of his own people, Moses had to leave the king's court and wander around homeless in the desert. A broken personality was the result of the self-confident, vainglorious, angry man Moses.

Because God had a great plan for Moses, Moses had to have this 40 years preparation in the desert to humble him. But wasn't God a bit too hard? After all, 40 years is a long time. God's greatest wish is that he didn't have to spend so much time in trouble to discipline us.

For he's a father who prefers to give his children love and blessings rather than to discipline them with stern love. But the greater God's plans for us are, the longer the time of preparation, the deeper the ways of humiliation we have to go, like Moses, to be purified of our sin. You can be sure that God has considered very well how long he has to leave someone like Moses or us in our own small personal lives in his fiery furnace in order to purify and prepare us.

Never forget, God's love has always set a goal for our ways of suffering. He takes broken personalities and uses them. This we can see in the life of Moses.

Yes, Moses found grace in the sight of God and could see his glory. But to reach this, he had to go step by step through humiliation, chastening, and suffering. Therefore, let us all thank God today for his stern love.

He takes so much trouble with us to prepare us for the goal that he has for you and me. I will abide by whatever you do, dying and suffering, accepting anew. I kiss the hand that is chastening me, for it is training and healing, I see.

You have been listening to a program written by Basilea Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website, www.canaan.org. That's K-A-N-A-A-N.org. If you contact us, we would be happy to send you a free inspirational booklet. If you do not have access to the web, please write to God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099.

God bless you.