Tough Love

“The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.” (Ps 11:5 AV)

Note the measure of love which the LORD shows towards the righteous is to try them.  Which means, the measure of the LORD towards the wicked is to not try them.  Kind of odd, isn’t it?  If the righteous are doing righteousness, why continue to introduce circumstance of trials?  Why not give those things to the wicked?  If those who are good receive challenging times from the LORD, then wouldn’t the wicked receive a whole lot worse.  In fact, they do; but I digress.  The point to be made is the LORD loves His righteous children so much that He tries them so as to produce more righteousness.  More faith.  The trying is an extension of God’s love so that we might grow thereby.  The wicked are left alone (in a matter of speaking) that they might devolve into more destructive wickedness.

My father was very wise in this respect.  At the time, we didn’t really appreciate it.  But what he was doing was building character in his children.  He was a Scout Master.  With my father, the lazy way was never tolerated.  If we were going to do something, it was the right way and the best way.  Not necessarily the easiest way.  There was an event we participated in every February.  They called it the Klondike derby.  Each troop would build their own Alaskan style dog sled beforehand.  We would then push or pull this contraption from station to station and compete is scouting skills like first aid, knot tying, fire building, etc.  The individual troops had the option of camping overnight.  They could either show up on Saturday morning and compete that day.  Or, come the night before and spend the night in sleeping bags and tents in a New York February!  Guess which option my father choose.

We never did win the derby the next day.  We were so exhausted and wet from staying the night before, it was a miracle we even crossed the finish line.  But what my father taught us could not be learned by the warmth of car or a dry bed.  His pushing was an extension of his love!  That is exactly what the LORD does for us!  It is a privilege to be tried!  Otherwise, God wouldn’t love us!