God Uses Troubles to ALSO CALL THE CHRISTIAN'S ATTENTION!

If there's one really good reason why God allows problems in the Christian life, it is also this- TO CALL THE ATTENTION OF HIS DISCIPLES!  Truth is, Christians as they are, they still sin, they backslide and they can be disobedient to the call of God.  How true can that be?  Well it's time to really see how God uses troubles to get the Christian's attention OFF FROM THE WORLD and BACK TO GOD because they are NOT OF THE WORLD.  Hebrews 12:5-6 says that God uses chastising as heavy as it is, to keep the Christian off from the world.  All these chastisements can come in the form of financial losses, accidents that may even cause permanent damage, God allowing Christians to make bad decisions, insults from the world (and yes there will be a LOT) to name a few.  As said, God wants Christians to have their attention to Him not the world.  He saved the Christians to serve Him and not to sin all they please.  Christians know that they since day one of their Christian lives have Jesus as the Lord of their lives and He and He alone is their new Master.  However Christians still suffer from temptation and they still do sin.

So here's a good illustration of God using troubles to call the Christian's attention.  1 Kings 11, we learn that Solomon was becoming rich and wealthy that soon enough, he got absorbed by it.  He wasn't pleasing God when he used his wealth to marry pagan women and they took away his devotion to God as evidenced he built their groves just to please them.  For God to call back Solomon's attention, the only way He could do it was to break the kingdom.  He caused problems in Solomon's life.  Ecclesiastes covers up that God really used problems to call Solomon's attention off from his hedonism back to God.  If God didn't do so, it would be doubtful if the book of Ecclesiastes would ever exist.

Now for the reality to this life... what attentions can He give?

1.) God is informing the Christian that they are not bearing enough fruit (John 15:2)

As said Christians will be bearing good fruit but sadly, because of the flesh, there will be bad fruit.  Jesus is the vine to by which every believer becomes an agent to do good works, marking true and genuine conversion.  The roots have now reached deep, there is much strength and now the tree is growing BUT the problem is fruit bearing is hard.  So what does God do?  He trims the branches to allow more room.  Pruning is never easy at all and for the Christian, it hurts but you want more fruit THEN KEEP PRUNING AWAY THE TRASH!  No pain, no gain!  If God didn't allow Christianity to be persecuted by various forces of Satan, it'd be doubtful it would multiply.  Christianity increased more in the Dark Ages under the Inquisition than it did in the so-called freedom zones.  Christianity in countries where they are openly and vigorously persecuted (ex. China) is bearing more fruit than Christianity is in America.  Christians who have been lashed and insulted for their faith in Jesus Christ have become instead more bolder than where Christians live with less ridicule.  

2.) God is informing Christians they are HITTING the danger zone (Proverbs 20:30)

Christians can be desiring something not good for them.  Just take for example a Christian young man is in love with an unbelieving woman.  But daily he prays to God to deliver him from temptation.  So what does God do?  God because of that prayer would sometimes harden the heart of the unbelieving woman as to make no relationship possible between them to protect His child from the daughter of the Devil who needs to be saved.  He can even make the Christian suffer when he pursues the unbelieving love interest by bad grades, financial losses and injuries as so Satan doesn't win the contest. Samson must have not been praying over that, leading him towards two affairs with two different Philistine woman, the latter being Delilah who led to his downfall.  Would have Samson responded to God's warning, how different things would have been!  Also God uses persecution from the worldly to sometimes block a Christian from doing things that aren't right like being refused into the fraternity or disco house because of being a fanatic.  That keeps them away from bad friends.  Perhaps Jehoshaphat failed to pray about the matter that's why he became allies with Ahab.

3.) God is informing the Christian of personal sin (Psalm 119:71-72)

In the Christian life, Christians can be so complacent.  Sad but true.  A good example can be how Christians sin unawares.  Sometimes a Christian can become quarrelsome and not know it.  Sometimes a Christian can become lustful and not know it.  Sadly most Christians sin and they're even aware of it.  Compared to the unbeliever, God calls their attention that they have sinned.  In 2 Samuel 12, God called David's attention about his adulterous affair with Bathsheba alerting him of his willful choice to do so.  

4.) God is informing the Christian of the NEED for improvement and keep them humble (Phil 1:6, 3:10)

Like it or not, learning does not stop in school.  Having a bachelor's degree, a master's degree or even a doctorate's degree doesn't mean that the Christian businessman will not make stupid decisions.  Some people read too many books and fail to apply what they read because they become too reliant on their brains.  As said, learning is good but the heart and common sense must go together.  God will allow Christians to make bad decisions at times, even suffer losses just so they don't become haughty and also for them to see their need for improvement.  As said, learning NEVER ends in the classroom, it is NOT ALWAYS learned from the classroom environment and that LIFE becomes the greatest teacher of all.  In fact even Solomon who was the most intelligent person on Earth made a series of foolish decisions as well.