“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.
How painful are honest words!"
(Job 6:24-25)
I've had a pretty severe past couple days. It wouldn't be apparent from the outside, but the Lord has been very merciful to me in his rebuke. A little disorienting at first, I'll admit, and painful too.
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Heb 12:11)
I prayed in Adoration to know my sins and to accept discipline, and the Lord did not disappoint. Like a loving Father, he made them plain, and did not spare the rod of correction.
"A fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence." (Prov 15:5)
For everything He is building up, He needs to tear down what came before it. For everything He is planting first needs to incubate in the womb of silence. For there is "a time to be silent, and a time to speak" (Ecc 3:7). But what is prudence, Lord, and how can I gain it? For prudence tells us what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and how it needs to be done.
"Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time." (Amos 5:13)
So, maybe it is a good time to be silent, to make retreat in the midst of my busy days. To guard my tongue and measure the words from my mouth:
"So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!" (James 3:17-18)
The Lord sends inner humiliations as well, to fortify us against pride and the pernicious temptations of the Enemy, so that we might see our sins and be ashamed.
"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise." (1 Cor 3:18)
It is easy to fall prey to thinking we are someone, something, having any merit.
"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways." (James 3:1-2)
Christian men, take the beating, but take it from the Lord first. For he only beats and corrects the ones He loves, His own children:
"Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost being." (Prov 20:30)
Lord, I am so grateful. What did I do to deserve Your correction, Your love? Nothing. Keep me in silence, Lord. Feed me with your Word and sustain me in my aloneness. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Ps 51:10)
"For one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere." (Ps 84:10)
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