June 21, 2018

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO BLESS ME BY CHASTENING ME

Psalm 94:12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

There are some wonderful truths and principles in this entire chapter. We are going to look at some of them a little bit closer. These verses speak about “chastening” and “adversity”. These are two things that each of us will face in our Christian walk, and two things that each of us can be confused by.

Only God would put “chastening” and “blessing” together. In fact, God says that the individual that is chastened, is also blessed. That does not really compute with us. That does not seem to make sense. We would feel guilty to say that the person who gets away with everything is actually blessed. We wouldn’t say that, but that is actually what we think occasionally. I have always been a person that felt like I never was able to get away with anything. Trust me, it has been frustrating at times. I seemed to always get caught. I haven’t always felt blessed because of that, but now that I am older, I realize that it is God keeping me in line.
What does God mean by this statement of being blessed to be chastened?

IT MEANS THAT WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD.
* Proverbs 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
God would not be chastening us if we were not His child. When I was a child, there were a number of times that kids around me misbehaved just like I did, but my dad did not spank them. My dad spanked me. Why is that? Because they were not his children, but I was.

IT MEANS THAT WE ARE CARED ABOUT BY GOD
* Hebrews 12:11 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.
If the parent does not ever discipline their child, they are not helping their child. They are hurting their child. As a parent, we discipline our children because we want the best for them. We care about them

IT MEANS THAT WE ARE BEING CHANGED BY GOD
* Hebrews 12:6 Forever whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Believe it or not, it is a blessing to be chastened by God, because it means that God has not given up on us. It means that God has a plan for us. It means that God still sees something wonderful in us. It means that there is a purpose to our life. It means that God is still working on us. If we’re not being changed, then we are not being blessed. Please take time to think about these things today.