It Takes Pain To Humble A Successful Person

"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your Word." Psalm 119:67 Because of his fallen condition, man is by nature a rebel, he is by nature self-willed. All descended from Adam are born in a fallen human nature, and their hearts are prone to evil. Put two little children in a room with one toy, and you'll instantly see the fallen human nature exposed. We are born into this world and we learn the principles of the world from the perspective of how we can get what we want out of life. Before one is born again, his world is all about himself. His spirit is dead and he only resists sin when he fears he would be caught in it. Secretly, it's all about him, and it's all about how he can get his way with a smile on his face. That's why Jesus said that we MUST be born again; as long as we live in the fallen human nature we are doomed to its fallenness - and to its judgment. To bring someone to be born again usually takes the shock of affliction. And what a shock it is when a man's plans are interrupted by calamity. It sends him into a tailspin. He may recover from the calamity and go on with his life - only to be shocked with another one. And this is where many may turn their hearts to God. When the heartache in life overwhelms him, then he might think of God, and often that's the whole point of the affliction. vs 71-72: "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver." A person who turns to the Lord in pain and humbles himself before God - this is the person whom God will prepare to be able to receive the revelation of who God is, who we are, what we're here for, what it's all about, where we're going and how we're to get there. It takes pain to humble a successful person. It takes pain to direct his heart to what is truly important in life. The person who does humble himself before God will discover there's a whole new life waiting for him. He will seek not his own goals, but will open his heart to the plan God has perfectly fitted him for. Understand this: there IS a plan perfectly fitted for each individual and the wise will seek to know from God what that plan is. Once he is firmly planted in that plan, he will come into a joy and happiness that he never knew possible before. He will find satisfaction in the purpose God planned for him, and then he will realize that the pain in his life was necessary, or he never would have gotten there. He looks back and blesses God who faithfully applied the distress that was needed to bring him to repentance. And his heart will swell with thanksgiving. vs 75: "I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me." For many believers looking back on their own story, they see that had the Lord allowed them to continue as they were going, it might have destroyed them because ...Satan has a plan for each one's life too, and that plan is to bring him to destruction. Jesus said of Satan: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10 When a person is born again, he is taken out of the kingdom of darkness which is under the authority and direction of Satan (2nd Corinthians 4:4) and into the Kingdom of God. He has learned that it's not religion, it's relationship. God is no longer his judge, he becomes his Savior. He has learned that it's all about the Word of God. To repeat that emphatically, it's ALL about the Word of God. The Word of God becomes his life, and in it he will find life far more abundantly. "Unless your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life." Psalm 119:92-93