PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Proverbs 3:11-12 KJV).

“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction,” that ought to tell us something about the chastening of our children. We are going to be doing it for a long time. You are not going to mold that child into what he ought to be in fifteen years—we’ll be doing it right up until the time when he leaves out our front door. That can be depressing. We think we finished our job in four or five years to get his character straightened out, but he is still as crooked as a dog’s hind legs. They’ll get to be fourteen or fifteen years old and stand there and smile at you, and lie to you like a rug. Kids are crooked. They got that from their parents.

“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:5-7 KJV).

“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD,” there are three reactions to the Lord’s correction according to this verse in Hebrews:

(1) Don’t despise it. Getting angry at God is despising it. (2) Don’t faint. A lot of Christians just wilt under it. “I know I Corinthians 10:13 is in the Bible, but the Lord has gone beyond with this one, this is more than I can handle!”

Remember, the Bible promises that, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9 KJV). If we faint not. How often God pushes His child right to the edge, and that is when He steps in and resolves an issue. God may lay the rod of correction on us and we may holler a little bit—that is normal—but what is not normal is to allow a root of bitterness to form. That’ll just lead to more chastening, and some more unpleasantness. Don’t get angry with God, and don’t wilt under the pressure.

(3) Endure chastening, that is, take it patiently. For it will reap the benefit of verse 11: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11 KJV).

“For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth,” see there, it just proves that the Lord loves us. Don’t despite it, God is doing it for our own good. God is developing character in us, just as we are doing with our own children. For “afterward it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby,” it is wonderfully good for us.

Most people don’t have the self-disciple to push themselves, so God will push us. Worry about the time He no longer pushes us because He has given up on us.

“For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth,” as Job points out: “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty” (Job 5:17 KJV). Paul also adds: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (I Corinthians 11:30-32 KJV).

Remember that if we will not chasten our children when they are correctable, the government will do it later when they are not. When we punish our children, we take away the guilt of their wrongdoing. If the government doesn’t do it, God will.

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