If God Loves Me, Why Does He Hurt Me?

Psalm 89:30-33
30 "If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
NIV

Sometimes it feels like when we make mistakes, fall into sin, do the wrong thing instead of the right thing - that God 1) doesn't like us anymore and 2) punishes us for what we've done.

First, it's important to note that you can't do anything to please God outside of Jesus Christ. The Bible cleary says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." and "all our righteousness are filthy rags." It's only through Jesus' goodness that we can be good. If you belong to Jesus when God looks at you He sees His Son and is pleased. Inside Jesus you always please God because Jesus always pleased God.

Now - that being said - it is possible to "grieve" God. Paul told us not to "grieve the Holy Spirit." The writer of Hebrews tells us that God disciplines us like a good father in order to create His character within us. Paul also said that whatever we do has a reaction - if we do fleshly things we'll get a reaction in the flesh: death. If we do things in keeping with God's character we get from the Spirit: life.

But what I wanted to point out from Psalm 89 is that even when we fail and God disciplines us - He still loves us. What parent cannot love his child even though that child must endure discipline for disobedience? Don't mistake discipline for dislike or lack of love.

God's love is everlasting - you can rest in that, even though you may undergo His woodshed from time to time.