Lenten Series: Mar 14

"Why me?" "Why is God punishing me?" "God does not love me!"
Sound familiar? It's one side to what we call tough love - a parent's language of love to his/her child.

A: "Mom, how come it's easy for you to be good? It's so hard for me!"
Me: "It's not easy for me either ... like the times I get angry at you."
A: "But you're angry because you're teaching me to be good ... that is still loving."

Once, my son was being very picky with his lunch and complained that he didn't like what was served. I sent him to his room and let him go through the rest of the day without food. (I asked the cook to prepare an early dinner that day - something he liked). When dinner came, he apologized for his behavior and ate his food with much gusto.
God is the same way. After allowing us to go through a difficult trial, He always has something good waiting for us (pampalubag-loob in Filipino) to refresh and restore us. So, anytime it feels like God is giving us hard time, let's ask ourselves "what is the lesson here? What is He teaching me?". Understand and learn the lesson. Then trust, that something good or better awaits us at the end of it all.

"God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When don't see his plan
When you can't trace his hand
Trust His Heart" (Trust His Heart, Babbie Mason)

From 1st Reading - Hosea 6:1-6 (Hillsong's "You'll Come" is derived from this verse)
"...it is He who has rent, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bind our wounds ...
Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord; as certain as the dawn is His coming, and His judgment shines forth like the light of the day! He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth ...
... for it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWk8DRwDYDc