"Sometimes I wonder if God is punishing me?"

"Sometimes I wonder if God is punishing me," that was the question asked last night at Bible Study that really got our discussion going. We were in the middle of our lesson that was based on Deut 30:19. That scripture talks about choosing life not death, blessing not cursing. In response to the question asked I was able to show her that many of the tests and trials that she has faced in her life were the direct result of the choices she made, and ultimately what making those particular choices kept her from. I shared with the ladies how the devil likes to throw the stones (tests, trials, challanges and circumstances) at us then hide behind God. So when we turn around we see God standing there and think He was the one who threw the stone. When actually He is waiting there for us to come to Him and receive His help out of our trouble. We also talked about how God allows us the freedom to choose any life we want. He doesn't force us to love Him but He always loves us (He may not necessarily like our actions/choices)! We talked about Psalm 91 and the covering of Gods protection, like wings or an umbrella, and how some of our choices move us out from under that protection. When bad things happen to us it doesn't mean that He doesn't love us it just means that we may have made some wrong choices that moved us out from under His protection. The ladies were really blessed by our discussion and I believe that they will examine more closely the decisions they make in the future. Choose life not death, blessing not cursing and always know that God is never the one punishing us...He's there to help us!