Why must I suffer disappointment,
sorrow, and tribulation? What have I done that God should send me
trials? Is He displeased with me? These questions are constantly asked
by God’s dear children.

Much of this fear and questioning is due
to our misunderstanding of God’s dealings with His own. He has His good
reasons. And one of those reasons is for our spiritual discipline. We
should be far more afraid of being left alone than of God’s chastening,
for He wastes no time on worthless objects that give no promise of
fruitfulness.

On the shores of Lake Michigan are great barren
sand dunes that have never felt the point of a plow. But in the rich
lowlands beyond them, the farmer is constantly cultivating the soil.
The farmer knows what he is doing, so he keeps on breaking up the soil.
The deeper the plow works and the more the sharp harrow, the more
precious the crop will be when harvest time comes.

God’s plow
goes deep, but it is only that in the end we may forget the plowing and
rejoice in the blessing of bearing much fruit for Him. "No chastening
seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless,
afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who
have been trained by it" (Heb. 12:11).  — M.R. De Haan            

(from Our Daily Bread)

Karla is the Managing Editor of Blissfully Domestic. She blogs daily about life with 4 kids at Looking Towards Heaven