If we are to experience God’s best there is a price to pay. This was so clear to me as I was reading Bob Sorge’s book on prayer. Are you prepared to pay the price, because there is a price?
The enemy has come and taken things, he has come and plundered our stuff but there will be restitution. He will pay for all he has done but there is a price.
I have been deeply challenged by the words I have read. This is what he had to say:
“There is a steep price to pay if we are to experience restitution.
What does qualifying for restitution mean?
And even though there is restitution, the reality of the actual loss is a scar that marks us forever.
Take, for starters, Job.
The indelible mark left upon Job because of the loss of his first set of ten children. Yes, he was changed, healed, restored, and given a second set of children. But nothing could erase the fact that he had lost his first children. They were gone forever, and their absence represented a hole in his heart that nothing could fill. This left an eternal scar on Job’s soul“.
And the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored his fortunes, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 41:10
We read Job’s story with no clue at the cost he had to pay for restitution. He lost his kids. All his kids. It didn’t mean just because God blessed him with more kids he forgot about the pain and the tragedy of losing his first ten kids. On the contrary the pain of losing his children would forever be with him.
– Paul is another example of this. Paul was a mighty man of God who God delivered. At the end of his life Paul testifies of God’s faithfulness by saying,
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
Paul faced impossible opposition! It was not an easy road. For Paul to say what he said, had such a weight and significance. He didn’t just leisurely get there. He nearly died and was actually prepared to die for Christ. His deliverance and glory came at a huge cost. Consider this:
2 Corinthians 11:23-30
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeying’s often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
As you can see, Paul suffered a lot.
The last person I would like to point out from the book is Naomi. The author says:
Naomi was comforted with Obed’s death, but she never got her husband and two sons back.
Ruth 4:17-22
We like happy endings but we need to realize like Job Naomi lost her family!
She was happy that she had a grandson but the fact remains, she lost her family and she had to live with that truth everyday of her life! She paid a huge price.
What I would like you to see through all of this is, what you have gone through, what you going through is not all for nothing! It is for a testimony! I would like you to start seeing your scars differently. Your scars are a reminder of what happened to you but they are also a testimony of God’s faithfulness. Let me give you one last practical example of what I mean.
I was abused as a child. My dad was a violent man and a drinker. I lived most of my childhood in fear then in shame and insecurity. I was abused physically and verbally. I have scars to prove it. Today, I can look at those scars and hate my dad but I don’t. I look at those scars and they remind me of how God saved me! I have come a long way because of God! The scars are a testimony of God’s faithfulness, do you understand? Look at Jesus, His nails bare the mark of what He paid on the cross. It is a reminder to us of how much He loved us. His scars are a testimony!
The author goes on to say, The point is: The losses are real, and the scars eternal. And yet, the suffering is worth it because of the glory which is revealed in us.
And I will stop there. God is so good. I hope you will look at your scars differently. There is a price to pay to experience God’s restitution.
Rolain
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