God’s Discipline Produces in Us Qualities That Enable Us to Be Happy

We have been talking about the tribulations in life—the trials, difficulties, failures, and struggles of life—and about how these things, in God’s hands and when seen through the eyes of faith, can work for our good and can be part of God’s work in our lives; how God can use the pains of the past, the sufferings of the past, and the wounds, and how, in fact, if we can look at them through God’s eyes, we can squeeze through a very small crack, come out on the other side, and discover that those things can be for our blessing and edification. And we have looked at different passages where I believe we can see that God sometimes deliberately and intentionally uses certain experiences in life to bring about changes and transformations in us that draw us closer to becoming like Christ, shape our character, and instill in us those qualities that he wants us to have.

I said some time ago that I believe God’s greatest purpose is not to give us money, or a comfortable life, or the profession we want, or whatever else, but to form the character of Jesus Christ in us, so that we may glorify him by being like his Son and so that he can then use us—once we have that character of Jesus—as instruments to bless others. Indeed, when the character of Christ is formed in us through the chisel, through the blows of God the sculptor, we ourselves can then be happier.

God’s discipline produces in us qualities that enable us to be happy. There are attitudes in us, character traits, behaviors, and patterns of thought that, if we persist in them, lead us to destruction, lead us to hurt our loved ones, and lead us to make wrong decisions. And when God sees those things in a son or daughter of his, because he wants them to be happy, he puts us through a training program, and all training causes distress. An athlete who is running or exercising feels distressed and exhausted, but that leads the athlete to expand, to improve, to grow stronger, and to have greater endurance.

And sometimes God puts us through those exercises in life. Of course, God’s exercises are not meant to make us physically stronger, but to make us stronger spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Therefore, the exercises he has to devise are exercises involving circumstances, situations in life, and experiences that compel us to exert ourselves as well. And that then produces attitudes in us that truly enable us to be happy afterward, enable us to travel more lightly, enable us to be more understanding and wiser, so that we can make good decisions. And then the Spirit of the Lord within us can also flow more freely; we have greater power and more authority in our prayers, and we know how to ask more effectively and how to solve life’s problems.

What defeats the devil is not necessarily power; what ultimately defeats the devil is the character of Jesus, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I have learned that. Sometimes we place so much emphasis on spiritual warfare and all of that, and I believe in all of that. It is very important, but I have come to understand that what defeats Satan most and keeps him neutralized, so that we do not even have to fight him, is having the character of Jesus within us. And that is acquired only through a very rigorous training program, through God’s continually dealing with us and drawing us more deeply each day into that discipline we spoke about in Hebrews.

It says that God disciplines those whom he loves, but not discipline in the sense of punishment; it also means his dealings with us, training, work, a system that gradually shapes us, like the braces placed on our teeth that work on us. Or like the yoke laid across an ox’s shoulders, which forces it to go in a certain direction until it is trained and learns.

Do you know how a young ox is trained to walk straight and obey? An ox is so strong that it can kick a man and kill him. How can anyone control such a large animal and force it always to thresh along the same path? They take an old, already trained ox and place a yoke on both of them—the young ox alongside the old ox—and when the young ox wants to go in another direction, the old ox restrains it and forces it to keep going in one direction, gradually breaking it until the young ox learns to behave like the other one and to be disciplined.

And that is what happens in life: sometimes the Lord takes hold of us when we are full of strength and vigor. But do you know what? When we are full of vigor, the devil plays us like a bullfighter however he pleases, because we are stupid and brutish, full of strength like young people, like an undisciplined horse that runs everywhere but is good for nothing. So God has to take hold of us, gradually bleed us dry, and weaken us until we become gentler and humbler and listen more attentively to God’s voice. Then God can work through us more effectively, and we can be much more useful.

But that is a process of brokenness; those are the blows of life that gradually make us that way. The Lord uses all those circumstances. We believe that God only knows how to give pleasant, beautiful, easy things. No, God deals with us in many ways.

And we have to learn to appreciate that—God’s dealings with us. We have to open our eyes to that dimension of the Christian life in which God wants to work on us: he will use experiences and circumstances that will be dark and unpleasant, and it will not necessarily be the devil working through those negative experiences. It will be God allowing them, or deliberately devising them himself, so that they may gradually produce in us fruit of life and blessing that pleases the Lord.

And we have seen that in many ways. I want to point out one more passage; give me ten or twelve minutes. Let us turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 8, where God speaks to the Hebrew people before bringing them into the Promised Land. The Hebrew people have spent forty years wandering through the wilderness, and their experience in the wilderness is also a symbol for us in our lives of the wildernesses through which we often have to pass before entering the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey.

Before entering into abundance, joy, power, success, and the fulfillment of our dreams, we sometimes have to spend time in the wilderness. When God is working in your life, many times the very moment when God is doing great things in your life is when you will feel the driest. It is interesting. The great mystic Saint John of the Cross wrote a marvelous poem in the sixteenth century. He was a Catholic priest and also a mystic; he had great experiences with God and wrote a poem that is very famous in Spanish-language literature—not merely in religious literature. It was a highly developed, very sublime poem called “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

He wrote that poem—it is a very long poem—and then he took the poem and interpreted it. He wrote an interpretation of the poem he had written, explaining what each thing meant, and from that came a book of about three hundred pages called “The Dark Night of the Soul.” And one of the things Saint John of the Cross says in that poem and in his interpretation is that when the soul draws closer to God and sees God’s purity and beauty, it becomes aware of its own impurity.

You know what happens when someone fixes up a house and paints a wall, for example: suddenly the old furniture looks even older and more dilapidated, doesn’t it? Isn’t that so? The carpet had seemed more or less tolerable because the wall was dilapidated too, but now, with the wall looking beautiful, the carpet looks hideous, so the carpet has to be replaced as well. And after you replace the carpet, the living-room furniture looks horrible. What is happening? There is a contrast. When something good appears, what had seemed acceptable now looks…

And Saint John of the Cross says that when God is doing things in your life, purifying you and working on you, you become aware of how much you still lack. And that produces in you a sense of dissatisfaction, barrenness, and displeasure, but it is not because you yourself are in a bad condition. It is because, in contrast with the closeness through which God is allowing you to see his glory, you look at yourself and say, wow, I truly have so far to go. So that barrenness and dryness are actually indications of growth and of drawing closer to God. And you have to become accustomed to that wilderness.

I have always found that wildernesses are very special times in which God is working in us and doing very profound things. If we know how to go through that time in the wilderness and wait there until the wilderness fulfills its purpose in our lives, then when we emerge from the wilderness, we enter into a greater blessing. The wilderness is a good place to be.

I have been in the Negev Desert in Israel; I spent about three weeks there several years ago. It is the most interesting place in the world. It is a privilege to be in the wilderness. That is why I understand why Elijah and Elisha lived in somewhat desolate places: the wilderness teaches us many things. You draw closer to God because there are not many distractions; everything is very flat, very dry, and very monotonous. But there you can see God and see your inner self more clearly.

Likewise, many times in your life, seasons of dryness will come, seasons of loneliness, sadness, and need. Do not become filled with fear and horror and immediately run away. Stay there for a while and ask the Lord to teach you: “Lord, what do you want from this wilderness?” And learn to weep if you need to weep; learn to reflect within yourself. Those wildernesses are good; they are part of God’s purpose.

So Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, but that was a symbol of the wildernesses through which all of us must pass in life. And God used the wilderness to do things in that people. Those people, for example, were sensual; in the wilderness they were pining for Egypt’s pots of meat and Egypt’s garlic, while here God had them eating manna. There was nothing else. So every day they had to take a little tin can out into the wilderness to gather what God caused to fall, and they filled the can, and they were sick and tired of that blessed manna.

Those sensual, gluttonous people needed something like that—a very simple meal and a forced fast. God kept them there. And sometimes that happens to us: God has to take hold of us and break us, and God has to bleed and bring down that big, strong animal within us, because all that animal does is cause harm all around it. It scratches everyone, bites everyone, and roars at and frightens everyone, so God has to weaken it. And that is why he sometimes makes us eat…

What do people do in Santo Domingo, for example, when they want to make a dog vicious? I have heard—I do not know whether it is true—that they put glass in its food, ground glass, to irritate it and make it vicious. Well, God does the opposite: when God wants to make you sweet, gentle, and peaceful, he gives you somewhat bland food so that you gradually become accustomed to it. And in that process God gradually bleeds you dry, and then, paradoxically and interestingly, that gentle food, that mush God gives you, makes you more like Christ—gentler, humbler, more understanding, more open to God’s voice, more able to hear the whispers of the Spirit, and more able to discern subtle things.

Many of us need someone to shout in our ear before we can hear, but God wants us to be so sensitive that with the slightest touch on the surface, we already know what he wants. That is how God wants to train us. So sometimes he places us in a very gentle process, gives us only the bare minimum we need to live, and keeps us there for a while.

Now, if you read Deuteronomy chapter 8—I have already given the interpretation; now I am going to read the text to you. God says in verse 1:

“…You shall be careful to put into practice”—he is saying this to these people whom he is now about to bring into the Promised Land. Forty years in the wilderness, and now at last they are about to enter into their inheritance, into their blessing, into that for which they left Egypt; now, at last, they are about to enter. So God gathers them together, lays down the law to them through Moses, and says:

“…You shall be careful to put into practice every commandment that I command you today, that you may live and multiply and enter and possess the land that Jehovah swore to your fathers. And here comes what I have been telling you—…and you shall remember all the way by which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness…”

Brothers and sisters, when the time of blessing comes into your life, do not forget the bad times, the times of trial. When God takes you through a time of dealing in your life, mark it, and return to those times to remember what God did, how God brought you out of certain things, how God dealt with you. There are things that have happened in my life that I remember, not to become depressed, but to remember them, so that I do not forget the lesson, so that I may learn and see God’s dealings. That is good. So remember that time; when you are in the land of great abundance, remember those times in the wilderness through which God has brought you these 40 years.

“…To test you—and here it is—to know what was in your heart…”

You know, that is one of the great benefits of trials. Now, God knows what is in the heart of a man or a woman; he always knows. I believe it is more so that we may know what was in our own hearts. It is a way of bringing it to light.

Many times, trials allow us to know ourselves better. The best psychoanalysis in the world is a trial, because it is as though God squeezes you, and things that were there in your subconscious, in your past, then begin to well up and come to light. And you come to know yourself better; you can lay before God the things from which you suffer, and then you can submit those things to the Lord.

There is nothing like knowing oneself. That is the best thing in the world: the man or woman who knows himself or herself. There are many things within us that we do not even know about, and every force within you that you do not know controls you instead of you controlling it. Only what you know with your mind and have brought from the subconscious into the conscious can you then control and master. But if there are things in your life that are affecting you and you do not know what those things are, those things will govern you, and you will find yourself doing things without knowing why you do them; and that is because they are outside your awareness and your control—they control you.

Psychiatrists and psychologists understand that; all psychology and psychiatry are based on that point: making people aware of those unknown things within them that are affecting them and leading them to engage in actions that are self-destructive or destructive toward their loved ones. So the role of the psychologist, the psychiatrist, the counselor, is to help this person understand his past, the experiences that shaped or deformed him, so that by becoming aware of these things, that person may gain control over them.

Perhaps you will never be completely free of those things, but by knowing them you will then be able to contend with them and manage them better. That is why Christ said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” When you know certain things about yourself and your personality, by knowing those things you will have much better control over them. That is why the main goal of a man or a woman should be to know oneself and to know the inner mechanisms, the deformations of the past: how your family background has affected you; how the problem you had with your father, for example, or the way your father treated you, your relationship with your father, affected you; how sexual abuse that you suffered deformed you; how some failure in the past traumatized you and now you see the world through that trauma; how some loss, some deprivation, some omission, some betrayal, some abuse, some insult, something major, may have affected and deformed you, and how that is now affecting the way you behave.

And because you do not know or do not remember that, you think you overcame it—but no, you did not overcome it. Then, when you recognize it and can bring it to the Lord, shine his light on it, surrender it to him, and know that nothing can destroy you—that if you are in Christ, you are not a victim of anything—God will use it all, and he can use it for his glory, for his honor, and for your blessing, whatever it may be. And that is what enables us to be whole: understanding that anything that may have happened in my life, no matter how grim or sinister it may be, if I can surrender it to the Lord, God will turn it into something beautiful and precious for his glory and for my blessing, whatever it may be. Write it there: sexual abuse, abortion, divorce, moral failure, poverty, trauma, physical, emotional, or verbal abuse—whatever may have happened in your life, some crime committed, whatever it may be—if you surrender all of that to the Lord, he takes it into his hands and, in a mysterious and magical way, transforms it into something glorious and beautiful.

Look at what he did with the cross: he transformed the most sinister instrument, the death of his Son, into salvation for humanity, into redemption for the earth. So you have to understand this: no matter what you have been through, no matter what has happened in your life, if you look at it through the lenses of Jesus, he can take it and transform it into something glorious and sublime. Do not see it as something irredeemable: “That killed me; it destroyed me.” No. Take it and let the Lord recycle it and teach you how you can use that trauma, that tragedy, that suffering, that failure, that loss, as a step on which to grow and reach another level in your life.

Do not fear it. The pains of life are terrible and destructive for those who see only what is terrible and destructive. For those who can see the pains of life in the light of God’s benevolent purpose, they can become a wonderful weapon and a beautiful surgical instrument for shaping a powerful man or woman who can bless others, have compassion for others, counsel others, put an arm around someone who has suffered, and say, “Look, do not worry. I have walked that same road; I know what you are suffering. And I can tell you that there is light on the other side and that there is hope, because I have been there.” Wonderful.

That is why God tells them, “Look, remember the wilderness, where I led you to humble you, to test you, and to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments”—speaking of God—“and he humbled you and caused you to hunger and sustained you with manna, food that neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man shall not live by bread alone, but man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Jehovah.”

God uses many of the things we go through to teach us very powerful, very profound spiritual lessons. God is always speaking to us. God is always instructing us. God is always teaching us. The problem is that we are too dull to understand God’s coded language. And part of what God does through trials is teach us a new language: how to interpret the events of life, draw out their great lesson, and make ourselves better, stronger, more powerful, nobler, and loftier.

Through trial and affliction he wanted to teach them; he wanted to teach them, “Look, first of all, you lacked nothing.” Listen to me: how many of us think, “I am going to starve to death”? Or how many of you, when you lose a job, think, “Disaster! I am going to end up on the street; I am going to die”? And somehow, it is as though God always provides you with something. Incredible.

I say that there are two great phases in life: one is the manna phase, and the other is the phase of the land flowing with milk and honey. And many times, when you are undergoing trials and experiencing physical, material, or financial drought, God simply gives you the basics you need to live: he gives you a little room somewhere, a more-or-less decent bed, basic clothing that is not very luxurious, and he keeps you there for a while. That is manna; that is simple food. But the interesting thing is that, always at the last moment, he reaches out his hand to you and two pesos or five pesos come your way for milk, for bread; someone gives you a shirt; someone invites you somewhere to eat, or invites you to a restaurant and pays for your meal. It is as though the Lord is giving you manna even while keeping you in a bit of drought; yet mysteriously, miraculously, he provides the basics for your subsistence. And he tells you, “Be patient. I have you there. I am teaching you how to live by faith. I am teaching you that man does not live by bread alone, that I can provide for you. If you pray to me, if you believe in me, I can provide for you.”

When you think you are going to step out onto thin air and fall into the abyss, an angel comes and places his hand there for you to step on. And you learn to live by faith; you learn not to live by your intelligence or your cunning, or by your training, or by the people you know, or by your profession. You simply learn that you must hold on to God. And if you hold on to him, “I will never fail you, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you; my right hand will always be with you and in your favor.” Learning that truth is incredible; learning that truth is wonderful.

But how are we going to learn it unless God removes all the scaffolding and leaves us suspended in midair, and we have to walk believing that the Lord will provide each step, that when the sole of our foot comes down, the step will be there? We have to learn that. And this is the only way: when God removes everything around us and leaves us simply with the basics, the manna. But there we learn that man does not live by bread alone.

Look at what it says: your clothing never wore out on you. Did you know that? While Israel was in the wilderness, they could not make clothes; there were no machines, there was nothing. But incredibly, throughout those 40 years, every day the people would get up and their clothes looked just the same; they were sturdy, their sweaters were nice and spiffy, and they did not wear out. Incredibly, all that time, even though they had only one skirt and a little blouse and a pair of shoes, it says that your clothing never wore out, nor did your foot swell during these 40 years.

Those people walked through the wilderness, through the drought, over the stones, wearing very basic little shoes, and their feet never swelled. God did not provide them with fine shoes, but he made sure that their feet were protected. Nowadays people have very fine shoes, but their feet are full of calluses, and they cannot even enjoy them. I would much rather have basic shoes and good health than all the clothing in the world and then be unable to…

And God says, “Look, observe this: throughout all the time you were in the wilderness, your foot did not swell, your clothing did not wear out, you never lacked basic food; and through that deprivation and basic suffering, I wanted to teach you that ultimately you do not depend on yourself—you depend on me. And when you have nothing, I can provide you with the basics, and I am training you.”

Then it says, “Know also in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Jehovah your God disciplines you.” Humble yourself. Know that you are dealing with a very serious God. Walk uprightly before him and let him deal with you. There is nothing like that sublime respect for God. When a person humbles himself, when God has disciplined you and you have learned how serious the God you serve is, you walk the straight and narrow.

This morning I was reading about precisely that: how important it is to cultivate the fear of God. It says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. How important it is for congregations to cultivate the fear of God. Nowadays people do not want to talk about the fear of God. No, we see God as a provider, a Daddy who spoils us. “The Lord is going to provide everything we want.” No. God is also a severe God; he is generous, but he is severe. We must fear him; we must live with a healthy fear, with an awesome reverence for the God we serve. He is a God who shows no favoritism. If he has to give you a smack, he will give it to you; even the nicest one, the one he loves most, gets a good smack from him too. We must walk the straight and narrow, and that is conducive to health, wholeness, and blessing in life. Walk fearfully before God—not afraid of God, but with fear—because he is sublime and deserves all reverence. We must walk softly before that almighty Being.

“…Therefore you shall keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, walking in his ways and fearing him, because Jehovah your God is bringing you into the good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow forth in valleys and hills. How poetic! A land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees, oil, and honey; a land in which you will not eat bread in scarcity, as in the wilderness, nor will you lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. And you will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless Jehovah your God for the good land he has given you.”

After God has taken you through the trial, times of refreshing, restoration, rest, celebration, eating well, and enjoying the good of the land come. God tells you, “Okay, now, my child, I put you through the mill, but now look at the banquet. Sit down and eat from all the abundance I have for you.”

Because ultimately, God wants us to be well, brothers and sisters. Times of drought and trial are times of training, but afterward, like the soldier who, after being out in the field training, returns home to his wife and children, eats well, and regains his strength, so it is with the believer’s life. For a time he casts you into the wilderness, and afterward he brings you out stronger, prepared to press on; and life becomes a cycle of strengthening and enjoyment, strengthening and enjoyment, and each day a person becomes more and more like Christ.

How wonderful. So may the Lord bless us with this truth, and let us remember this: trials and difficulties are necessary; they are the greatest demonstration of God’s love. Let us not run away from them or avoid them. Let us welcome them, and when God brings them, let Him fulfill His purpose in your life.

I have taken a little more time; please forgive me, but I wanted to finish this series with that message. Remember that we are talking about James: count it all joy when you fall into various trials, because the testing of your faith produces patience; among other things, it produces many more things, but one of the things it produces is patience.

Thank You, Father; we worship You, we bless You. Thank You for this evening, Lord; thank You for Your blessing; thank You for Your sons and daughters. Father, renew our strength now. Take us to our homes with Your blessing, grant us peaceful sleep, restore us, and take us tomorrow to our jobs and daily tasks with more joy and more strength than ever.

Thank You for this people. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. May the Lord bless you, my brothers and sisters; may the grace of the Lord be with you.