Now this is a subject that I've spent some time thinking about. Sometimes things happen and we do not understand why it had to happen that way. Some people will say that God does not cause bad things to happen but that He just does not stop it always. Well I would just like to take a look at what God's word tells us.

God is the Father of His children and that only means one thing. It means that He disciplines them when they are bad because He loves them. Now I am not trying to surpass any type of judgment over anyone who has had hardship but I am just going to ask you to think of a few things. Is there anything in your life that you place above God? Has your job become priority one? Has your family moved above God in importance in your life? Maybe it is your car. If we happen to loose one of those things it could be because God is trying to get us to put Him first and we don't seem to see it that way. God wants His children to put the One as number one and then all the other things fall into proper place.

Now I just want to make sure that no one gets me wrong here. I think that our family, etc., should be important, very important to us. However, our family will be best off if God is the Lord of our lives, Numero Uno.

If you are the Lord's and you go astray then the Lord cannot let you go. In John 6:39 Jesus says, "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." If you are a born again Christian and  you go your own way, God cannot go against His word and loose you. God disciplines those who are His so that we will return to Him, not our family, our car, our job, our athletic ability, or whatever.

Deuteronomy 8:5
5 "Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

Psalm 118:18
18 The LORD has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

Psalm 119:75-76
75 I know, O LORD, that your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. 76 O may your lovingkindness comfort me, according to your word to your servant.

Psalm 23:3-4
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 89:27-34
27 "I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 "My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall be confirmed to him. 29 "So I will establish his descendants forever and his throne as the days of heaven. 30 "If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, 31 If they violate My statutes and do not keep My commandments, 32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. 33 "But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. 34 "My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

Proverbs 3:11-12
11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

Jeremiah 30:11
11 "For I am with you,' declares the LORD, "to save you; for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly and will by no means leave you unpunished.'

Jeremiah 46:28
28 "O Jacob My servant, do not fear," declares the LORD, "For I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, yet I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you properly and by no means leave you unpunished."

Micah 7:9
9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His righteousness.

Revelation 3:19
19 "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.