The
Law of the Land.
“Death
is gain.”
Death is gain and that is not like the law, but “It is the Law of
the land.”
My stroke, as limiting as it might be, puts me just closer to home than the
distractions of all sorts in which I am distracted under the sun.
Life on earth is not as attractive as one might think in comparison to death in
Christ which is gain. My best laughter on earth is but a sad sound.
God is the blessed controller
of all things. Let us take a look at the life of Job.
Job lost his family.
Job lost his health.
Job lost his wealth.
Job lost his friends.
Job lost it all but his faith in God.
Job did not lose it all to Satan but to God who gives and takes it away.
God restored Job. It was more than ever before, including giving him Jemimah,
Keziah and Keren-Happuch. Who were the most beautiful girls on earth?
Leprosy, measles, smallpox, polio, Spanish fever, German measles, Chinese
Corona Virus, are a few of the ugly names to name whips that God uses on the
backs of the fools and to call some home.
Whatever the interpretation of our present trials and tribulations might be,
let us never forget that this is our Father’s world. No bacteria, no virus, is
too small to escape the control of God. They have no mind of their own or will
of their own to do as they please. What they are, are “Whips in the hand of
God.”
Someone asked, “Why does God use wicked people to punish good people?
Would the alternative be better if God uses nice people to punish nice people?
God in his sovereignty has created us all even the wicked as a whip on the back
of the fool.
On Good Friday my grandparents had a tradition to whip us to help Jesus carry
his cross of our sins. My older sister thought she was smarter than grandpa. On Wednesday she would put butter on the whip and give it to the dogs. But
grandpa would go to the local jail where inmates make a living by making whips
of all sizes and usually grandpa would buy the next bigger size.
Apart from that in parenting, it is always better to have the children
associate the pain of whipping with a whip and not with the hands that
administered the whipping. So, we hate the whip, not the whippier.
There was a man in Viña del Mar Chile that saved enough money to
buy a brand new red car. In happiness, he called his whole family to come out
and see the shining red car. Little Catrilef, a five-year-old only son of the
man, was playing tops with his friends and came to see the red shining car. The
family went inside to open the champagne bottle to celebrate the purchase of
the red shining car.
Meanwhile, little Catrilef found the red shining car good to write nice little
wavy lines all around the shining red car. After a few drinks, papa was ready
to take the family for a ride in the red shining car. To his great surprise the
car was “Scratched” so that in anger grabbed the little kid and with his adult
hands slapped the tiny little hands of Catrilef extremely hard .
Crying in pain Catrilef went to his room and stayed there till the evening.
By then his hands were so black and blue and swollen that they were afraid and
tried to put ice packs overnight. The morning hours revealed that the hands
were getting worse. When he was taken to the Emergency Room, the gangrene was
so advanced that the only way to save his life was through an amputation of
both hands at the elbow level.
Months later, papa came home with his not so shining red car. When little
Catrilef heard the car he came out running to hug his dad. “Look dad, I have no
hands and I will never scratch your car again, right dad?” He jumped on his
father’s arm and hugged him and kissed him not knowing it was the last time he
would ever see his father alive. “That night the man took his life by putting a
bullet in his mouth.”
All for scratches ...all for a discipline in anger ...all for the lack of
grace ... all for ruining the shining red car. We all seem to forget that
we also ruined the shining beauty of the Garden of Eden.
Let us go back to using whips and not using your own hands in whipping. And let
the inmates collaborate in making the board of discipline for the seat
of learning. Let us use the whip on our children and let them hate the
Assyrians instead of God. God has created the wicked as the rod for the back of
the fool.
Do not challenge the hand of God that is too strong. The Gospel is the same as
before we were born, “The Gospel is a Gospel of repentance for the forgiveness
of sin.”
This was a wounded warrior on duty afraid to wound others with his own hands.
Gerry Gutierrez.
PS. I love toddlers.
