Obedience and pain
Obedience treats pain (2)

The Apostle Peter spoke in his second epistle about Lot saying: “For that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds” (2Peter2:8).  What has degraded Lot to the extent that the Bible says on him: “who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked” (2 Peter 2:7). What made Lot suffer every day? It’s the sin and the separation from God and disobeying his commandments.  When we go through the falling steps of Lot in Genesis, we find out that they were a series of voluntarily actions to separate from God.

• “And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere”(Genesis 13:10)
• “Then Lot chose for himself”( Genesis 13:11)
• “He pitched his tent even as far as Sodom”( Genesis 13:12)

Lot has lifted his eyes, looked and saw Sodom, he did not lift them to the Lord to have his advice then he chose for himself and did not ask God to chose. The final result was a wrong decision and inappropriate behavior. He decided to separate from God, from the tent and the altar. He went away from the life of Holiness and fellowship with God and he moved his tents to Sodom. Then he harvested daily torture and continuous losses.

Why did the lost son suffer? It’s the harvest of what he did, when he loved money and he refused to live and have company with his loving father. It’s he who pierced himself and suffered. “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).

From that, we see that all who loved the money and the world and refused God’s commandments; they have pierced themselves and not the Lord who has pierced them. It is the sin where the Bible says about it: “Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27) and also: “For she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men” (Proverbs 7:26).

There exists a Divine order, unbreakable and nonnegotiable: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6:14); if you breach this order, you will be exposed to lots of troubles and pains. And there is another order which says: “Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:8). But whoever breaks this order will bring trouble and pain to his house, for the Bible says: “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house”( Proverbs 15:27).

Dear, Remember always that obeying God’s commandments is the best protection and vaccine against pains.

Magdy Samuel