June 22, 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;
God makes us aware here that “chastening” not only blesses us but teaches us lessons that we could not learn any other way. Teaching always goes along with chastening. God says that these lessons are learned “out of thy law”. In other words, when I am chastened, I should go to God’s word and learn what God is trying to teach me. so many times, God has to continue to teach us the same lessons, because instead of going to God’s word when we are being chastened, we run from it. We allow our hearts to be hardened. As long as we continue to do that, we will not learn the lessons that God is trying to teach. That means that God will have to continue chastening us.
Which brings me to my next point. In verse twelve, notice this important statement, “O LORD”. This makes very clear what God’s position is. He is Lord. He is the one in charge. He is the one who chastens, and He is the one who teaches. Chastening comes from the Lord, temptation comes from Satan. I believe when the Lord chastens you and I, we will know it. We do not have to wonder if this is coming from Satan, or if this is coming from the Lord. When God chastens us, we know it’s from Him.
We also need to understand that it is pointless for us to continue to fight the chastening of God. He is Lord. We are not. Why would we think that we could possibly win a fight against the Lord? By the way, the Law that God is teaching us lessons out of, He wrote it. You and I, who are the objects of His chastening, He created us. All the circumstances that facilitate the chastening, He controls them. Good luck fighting that.
We do not know for sure who wrote this particular Psalm. There are a lot of opinions and reasoning by a number of people who wrote this. I am of the opinion that it really doesn’t matter who penned these words. If God wanted us to know for sure, we would know it. I believe the point of this verse is not the person being chastened, it is the Lord who is doing the chastening. It doesn’t really matter who we are, it only matters who God is. What is important, is for us to realize who God is, He is God, and Lord, and King, and Sovereign. What is important is for us to be thankful that He loves us enough to chasten us when we need it. We should be thankful for the lessons that God has taught us through his chastening.