Why do all these terrible things keep happening to me? Maybe you’ve asked that question, wondering about the sickness or pain, the grief or confusion that plagues you. And many times, there simply is no answer: in a world where everything is twisted and broken in one way or another by sin, suffering is just part of the package.

But we have to be honest: sometimes, we suffer as a direct result of choices we have made, choices to turn away from God’s perfect law of love. For example, I received a very clear call to ministry in February of 1990. But because I chose to reject God’s call on my life, because I ran home and tried to teach high school, I spent several miserable years.

And that’s the same sort of thing that happened to the people of Israel. Yes, the Lord had brought them out of slavery in Egypt, but nevertheless they chose to worship other gods (verse 7). In fact, some of them went so far as to burn their children alive as sacrifices to those false gods (verse 17). And when they did worship the true God, they refused to follow His clear instructions, engaging instead in the sorts of rituals that their non-believing neighbors had made up (verses 9-11).

So God sent them lots of warnings. He spoke to prophets like Hosea and Amos, Micah and Isaiah, who urged the people to turn back from their wicked ways and obey the Lord (verse 13). But they didn’t listen. And as a result, they were carried off into exile by the Assyrians, just as the prophets had predicted (verse 23).

So, we all need to ask ourselves: is there any area of our lives that needs to be more completely surrendered to Christ? If so, could any of the pain in those parts of our lives be a result of our disobedience to God? For let’s face it: whether it involves our physical health or our relationships or our careers, sometimes God has to let us suffer the consequences of our sin in order to bring us back to Himself. Sometimes, because of our own stubbornness, nothing else will work.

II Kings 17:7-23 (NASB)

7 Now this came about, because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods
8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.
9 And the sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right, against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
10 And they set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD.
12 And they served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah, through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.”
14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God.
15 And they rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them.
16 And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
17 Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him.
18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah.
19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced.
20 And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
21 When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD, and made them commit a great sin.
22 And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them,
23 until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.