I was a young boy in the late 50's, and early 60's. During those times, generally speaking, life was presented in cinema revolving around a much stronger family unit than we see presented in post-modern America.
The woodshed, in my young mind, was not only a place to store wood to heat the family home, but it was also a place of dread and correction.
I have vivid memories of many a young man, in these earlier films, headed for the woodshed to receive a painful lesson regarding the errors of his ways.
As I was reading in Isaiah 48 this morning, I was reminded that God has a woodshed that he takes us to on occasion:
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another."
When God uses the woodshed, it is generally because we have in some way gotten to big for our britches, and have strayed into idolatry of some sort, or worse, put ourselves on the throne of our lives.
However, God desires that we understand that it is He alone who is God:
“Listen to me, O Jacob,and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; I am the first,
and I am the last.
My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together."
Notwithstanding, God's loving heart is also displayed in his woodshed:
"Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
And as we leave the woodshed, God proclaims:
“I am the Lord your God,who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
and:
"Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
I have spent the better part of three years in this Yahweh's woodshed. While there, as long as I was confined, I spent a great many hours reading the Scriptures to have a better understanding, and relationship with my Creator.
My understandings have been completely, and radically changed from this prolonged study.
I suppose, to many, some of my written ramblings may seem to be complete nonsense.
Here is my advice: don't wait to find yourself in this woodshed, and force God to bring upon you his affliction. If you find yourself with belief in God as your creator, then diligently spend time each day with him, read the Scriptures, and then your peace will be like a river.
If not, then God possesses a great collection of willow switches that he will bring to bear on your life. A loving father will correct his children.
Have you ever done a tour of duty in Yahweh's woodshed?