For more than three decades now, I have counseled men with all types of sexual sins and addictions. I have the rare opportunity to watch God work on both sides of His conviction. When people repent, grace is given and rarely are there significant consequences in their lives. However, if they refuse, the “spanking” often leads to disgrace and sometimes public exposure. The result of refusing is tremendous pain for that person and often those that love him.
When God has to spank someone because of his continued hard heart, things can get really ugly. I have heard many creative ways God will expose a man who has a secret sin. Let me list a few just to give you an idea of what lengths God will go to love a man who is trapped in an unclean lifestyle.
- Terry was looking at homosexual pornography and printing it off at work. For “some reason” the printer stopped working but held its file. Then the office printer kicked in a little while later and the pictures started printing where they left off. The IT department was called in to investigate and tracked it to his computer. He was fired, he called his wife, and she divorced him. Talk about a bad day.
- Paul was making a phone call to set up his appointment with a prostitute and didn’t realize his wife was “somehow” conferenced in on the call. He had a hot welcome when he got home.
- Tim was cruising for a prostitute and picked up a cop instead. He was arrested and the arrest was printed in the paper. Tim was a pastor. His job ended that day.
I think you get the idea. A bed of suffering is not the place any man wants to find himself. It hurts really badly.
If you notice in the second part of that verse, the Lord says, “and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely unless they repent of her ways” (Revelation 2:22). I love the word unless. Even in this letter, God was reaching out to those in adultery, and asking them to repent so he wouldn’t have to bring suffering into their lives. Jesus really prefers our voluntary repentance to discipline. During my twenty plus years of counseling, I have never heard from a man or woman who actually committed adultery say they would do it again. From where I sit, the act itself creates so much suffering, guilt, shame, and double-mindedness that the adulterer would give everything they possess to take it all back.
Scripture Verses: