Is it God's Will That You Are Tromented?

...or is it actually your own willful rebellion that torments you?

Hear the Word of the Lord: "But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" -Ezekiel 18:21-23 [ESV]

The Lord God says later in that same chapter, "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live." -Ezekiel 18:30-32 [ESV]

These are not the words of a tormenter or tyrant who punishes and refines without neccesity. God gathers no pleasure or joy in inflicting suffering and death upon the wicked. God desires that the wicked repent. We serve a God of love. Read Ezekiel 18 and see that it is not God who is unjust and cruel. We are the ones who are unjust and cruel.

Let there be an end to your torment. Repent and turn from your transgressions. Turn from wickedness and walk in righteousness. Now this is not a revival of morals and ethics. God is not calling you to try harder and stop being wicked. Our Loving God would not call you to do the impossible!

He is calling you to the righteousness of Christ Jesus. He is calling you to mercy. Get out from under the Law that is killing you and live by faith in Christ.

As the apostle says, "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."

"For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." -Romans 3:19-25 [ESV]

If you are suffering, make sure that you are suffering because you are zealous for what is good [1 Peter 3:8-22] and not just because you are fighting God so that you can live under the Law when you try to have salvation and communion with God by your own works, on your own terms, using your own timetable, through your own methods or means, and according to your own limited understanding.

That was my own mistake for over a decade. It was a miserable condition and there was no peace.