Ezekiel 21.13 describes, testing comes. Why have you despised discipline? You can’t get around it. Decree of GOD, the Master.

The human condition is filled with trials and tribulations, some worse than others but none are immune from such experiences. It is because the world rebelled against God so many years ago, now the seed of disobedience reigns within it. Weeds grow, things break, animals attack, people hurt one another, hurricanes occur, the list goes on. Testing comes to all and all of us are tested at various times.

What is the test? Will we turn to God and trust God through the hard times or will we despise Him, blame Him and curse Him because things are not going our way or according to our will? We all believe in God’s ability to do anything, so we want Him to do everything to alleviate our suffering. Yet we want to do anything we want, wishing Him to ignore everything we do that violates His commands and His ways.

We cannot have both, so we have the latter and pray for the former. If we had both God would be our servant rather than we live as His servants which is our proper role as the created and He the Creator. So how do we cope with life and its trials? Discipline.

We discipline nature with weed control, we discipline ourselves by keeping the weeds at bay. Weeds of poor health, weeds of bad words, weeds of bad deeds, weeds of bad relationships, etc. We must discipline ourselves both from those things that are destructive to us and to those things that are healthy for us.

So, we must exercise, we must read and study God’s instruction manual, we must work on our marriages, parenting and friendships, we must join the Church, we must give generously and we must serve sacrificially if we are to pass life’s tests well. This life is hard because it is broken, we, and all that are in it, but it is also good especially if we remain disciplined through it.

The best news of all is that a new heaven and new earth awaits those who have disciplined themselves in this life to love God and love others. This new residence is not broken and will last forever, world without end, without trial and without death or destruction.