Don't touch the hot burner!!

The other day, my son was attempting to make himself a sandwich. The problem was not with the sandwich, but the location as to which he decided to make it.

I had just boiled some hot dogs for our family for lunch, and I moved the hot pan off of the burner to another cool spot on the range top. 

Our cook top is a smooth glass surface with radiant burners beneath the glass. If you've ever used one of these, you would know that the surface remains quite hot even though the burner is off. They even have a light that shines red as long as the surface is too hot to touch.

Apparently this feature was not evident to my son. He knew the surface was hot, because I had just called them in for lunch, and the pot was still cooling on the stove. What he didn't know was which burner was used.

Even though the light was on to alert him of the incredible heat he will soon feel, he felt compelled to test the validity of the little red light by touching the burner with the palm of his hand.

He claims he only touched the surface for a second, but clearly it was hot enough to cause 2nd degree burns to his palm. 

The funny thing was, we didn't know this had happened until we heard the water running constantly in the bathroom.

My wife asked if he was alright, to which he answered, "I'm okay, I just burned myself.".....this soon sent my wife and I into a bit of panic.

Wouldn't you know it, we were also out of medical supplies to treat such a burn.
As I was reflecting on all of this, God whispered a perspective I didn't expect. My son wasn't sure if the burner was hot, but against all the warning signs, he decided he must know for himself. Most of us are that way with God.
We hear all the time the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" To most of us, the answer eludes our thinking. Some of us believe we've been bad and we deserve punishment. Some believe our past is never really far enough away from our circumstance.
If shame is Satan's #1 tool against our relationship with God, then it is "logical" that our sin deserves punishment.
This was true for thousands of years under the Law of Moses, but then God's Son stepped out of His royal power and entered the world as a lowly carpenter. He lived for 33 years, and paid the final bill for our past, present, and future; with His death, burial, and resurrection. His grace and mercy shown on His cross covers a multitude of our sin. Are we then free to sin without consequence? Of course not!!
So why as believers and followers of Jesus Christ do we still feel the pain of our sin? I can't speak to every instance, but for me, I experience pain because I did not listen to the warnings. God never causes our pain(1), that comes from our decisions or the decisions of others. No, God uses our circumstances to produce in us a peculiar glory that He uses for His purposes in our lives.
Even natural disasters are a result of someone who ignored God, and proved it for themselves. Just read the story of Adam and Eve. All of creation has been groaning like pains from childbirth, and decay entered with sin.
Does God shout or blast a warning signal when you are approaching danger? No, He speaks in a whisper.
Why a whisper? A shout or a blast of an alarm seems more appropriate. If He loved us, He wouldn't want to see us harmed, right?......take a moment and ponder that question......that sounds more like a question Satan would ask. (a) Satan asked Eve, "Surely God wouldn't kill you, right?"
First of all, God does not think like us, and He does not react like us.....thank God!! God's love for us is not based on our love for Him....thank God!! God doesn't use our pain to manipulate our need for Him.....thank God!!
When the time comes for you to make a decision, no matter how trivial, God has already made the warning; sometimes we have grown dull to His pleadings. Our selfishness and pride has determined to prove it for ourselves. Even if God did many miraculous signs and wonders, even if He sent messengers after messengers, even if He sent Himself to suffer the penalty of our choices, would we then listen?.....some would, but most would not. We are bombarded with many things begging for our attention and God refuses to compete.
God whispers His love to those who are listening for Him.(b) The fact that we hear from Him is proof of our love and affection for Him. We view this life as the whole, but the truth is, our life is but a vapor in all of eternity(c) Everything that happens in this life is used by God to draw us closer to Him, our creator.
Only through spending time with Him, knowing Him, listening intently, do we begin to see the path He has laid out for us. When trouble comes, we will know it because of a catch in our spirit. Just like a child knows the sound of their mother's voice, so too we learn the voice of the Holy Spirit.

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”      -Jesus  

John 16:33 

 I love this new song by Shane & Shane, but listen to what John Piper has to say about pain and trouble:

Sleeping with the Enemy?

 

 ^"You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God."  

James 4:4[a]

Social acceptance, prestige, or wealth are all described by James as friends of the world. Divided loyalty toward God is like adultery against one's spouse.
When we say "yes" to God, we find ourselves ushered into a strange and painful reality. Our defiance and self-reliance has kept us separated from our creator. The very one who breathed life into us and planned our life while we were being formed in our mother's womb.
What begins to transpire has been described as Holy Surgery. We were born into a sinful and fallen world as children of a sin nature. Relying on our own understanding of the things we see, taste, touch, and smell. We gather information from those who have been charged with caring for us, and as we grow older, we begin to develop "common sense." I believe this is the most stifling quality to the Good News of Christ we possess. Everything we do in our life is governed by our own framework of "common sense."
Since the beginning of time, man has been searching for the throne of God. We can't find it on our own, so we resolve to create a throne room in our minds or our homes, and we worship the god of us.
When you say the words of Isaiah, "here am I, send me" to God, you've given Him permission to check you into hospital. You are wheeled into surgery and He begins to remove everything that was never supposed to be there.
The greatest misconception of the work of God, is that He must change my surroundings and environment so that I can not be tempted to fall away. Although, that's not a bad idea, it never really deals with the core issue, YOU.
God wants to have a relationship with you, but to do that He needs your trust. Every lesson of self-reliance you have ever learned must be cut out of you and replaced with dependence on Him. God will never force Himself on you, or strap you on the surgeon's table, or even knock you out so that you feel no pain. In other words, this process could last a lifetime. Oh yeah, did I mention it was going to hurt?
John Piper writes that pain is not for nothing, but that it is producing a peculiar glory in us. Oswald Chambers writes, through pain and circumstance is the only way we build character.
As a man, I tend to always seek the affirmation of others. This helps to galvanize my way of thinking. God has been clear in His desire to severe that way of thinking.

If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.  

Luke 14:26(b)

Once you take a step of faith in the direction of Jesus Christ, the next thing you will face is the people who should understand you the best. This is where it gets REALLY hard. You've spent a lifetime leaning on the knowledge and experience of these relationships. James makes it very clear what divided loyalties will produce, you will become an enemy of God.
One of the biggest blows to our self-help mentality, is that the pain we experience is not FOR you. When you accepted Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are presented before God blameless and righteous.

 " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...."

Gal 2:20a(c)

So then why must we experience so much trouble?
Your choices and behavior influence everyone who is in contact with you. If your life looked like anything less than the redemptive life of Christ, then the world would never recognize their need for Him.
So how do we reflect Christ to the world?
When we say "yes" to Christ, we enter in to the "undeserved privilege" of the new covenant. Our everyday life is transformed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Which reminds me of the old hymn:

"Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."(d)