Deuteronomy 32:39 in the Song of Moses, it states that God said, “I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals…”

This was the case in the OT, what with the plagues and punishments inflicted by God, but when Jesus died on the cross, endless mercy and unending grace entered into the picture, and we were no longer meant to suffer if we accepted that Jesus was who He says He was, is and always will be.

It’s a sticky subject to get into, with some believing the Old Testament is for people under the new covenant given to us by Jesus. Either way, people clearly suffer today – with a lot of those people being Christians. The question is: Who is trying to punish us now? It looks a lot more like the real culprits are one of the following: society, other people, ourselves, or the devil.

Sin hurts us, not God. Picture God as your dad standing behind you with open arms when you stub your toe on the curb because you didn’t wear shoes outside. He didn’t make you not wear shoes. He didn’t make you not look where you were walking. And He didn’t make you stub your toe, the domino effect of your own actions did that. He’s just there to comfort you in the aftermath of your disaster.

He’s always been there to comfort everyone of us. All He wants is for us to want Him to comfort us.