God
created us to serve His purpose on earth. In our raw state after conversion, we
are not really fit for His use. Before we can become useful to Him, the
discipline of the Holy Spirit must be carried out in our lives. Our level of
qualification for God’s use is largely dependent on how much discipline we are
ready to receive.
God knows our deficiencies and
the things we need. He understands our personalities and operates through the
Holy Spirit in our environment to make us better vessels for His use. By nature,
we are ignorant and do not know what we really need. Our choices, laden with
human wisdom, are often faulty and full of errors.
A
very big picture lies ahead of us but all we see is a tiny fraction. God sees
the whole picture and uses the Holy Spirit to discipline us according to His
purpose for our lives. This disciplinary work begins the moment we become
Christians and continue throughout our lives. Often times, we are not prepared
for this discipline and think we don’t deserve it because it appears as if it’s
a form of punishment from God.
For instance, a beautiful sister
may rely on her beauty to get a good husband. In order to break her dependence
on beauty, God may allow her to go through series of failed relationship until
she comes to the realization that a good man comes from the Lord (James 1:17).
God is passionate about
everything that concerns us. Even the number of hairs on our head He knows
(Matt 10:30). This leads us to the realization that everything that happens to
us as His children is according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). There is nothing
that happens in our environment which is not permitted by God. We must
understand this fact that He is not cruel but allows us to go through some
things for our education (Is 48:10). Complaining about the situation or murmuring
against anybody is lack of wisdom which shows we are ignorant of God’s dealing.
Jacob is a character in the Bible
who had to go through the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He started his life as
a cheat right from birth and got everything he wanted by being deceitful. How
did the Holy Spirit discipline him? His sons told him that his favourite child,
Joseph, was killed by a wild beast; he was cheated by his uncle; his eldest son
defiled his bed; Rachel, his beloved wife, died after giving birth; his family
was disgraced by the rape of his daughter. After going all through these and
some more, he confessed that his life was full of sorrows (Gen 47:9) and became
a better person.
How dignified he was when he
stood before Pharaoh to bless him! He left the monarch’s presence without
demanding for anything. Jacob of old would not have done that. At the end of
his life, he died as a peaceful man. It is interesting to note that God later
addressed himself as the God of Jacob, an ex-con man.
The
discipline of the Holy Spirit is the best for us and must not be considered as
bouts of bad luck. Any form of resistance or resentment will only delay the
work. There was a time in my life that everything seems to be upside down. It
was as if God has forgotten me. But today, I am grateful because of the things
I was able to learn during those periods. I could not have learnt them
otherwise.
May the Lord open our eyes so
that our sincere prayer always would be “Lord, accomplish in me that which is
profitable in your sight”.
