A1. MAIN-God’s Discipline

A1. GOD’S DISCIPLINE

CONSIDER

• God's love is not simply 'being inclusive to everyone practicing all sin' as the world advocates, but involves rebuking and directing people away from their sin <M1501>

• God rebukes as many people as He loves; in other words, God rebukes everyone because we are all sinners

• Sometimes God allows a hardening of the heart to bring a person to a place of understanding and be ready to submit to Him <M1501>

• It may seem 'mean' of God to harden the heart, but it is ultimately for the person's good

• Love is not full-on permissibility to do whatever pleases a person

• There's no room to put sin on a pedestal; we

are not given a thumbs-up to continue living a sinful life

• God will not sit by and watch His creation living in sin

• He will actively rebuke everyone as needed to invoke change in their life

• Change may involve drawing unbelievers to Him or helping believers in the sanctification process

• Followers of Christ need to be called out of the world, not into the world

Revelation 3:19 NIV

[19] Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Hebrews 12:5-7 NIV

[5] And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, [6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” [7] Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

Hebrews 12:25-26 NIV

[25] See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? [26] At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

RELATED COMMENTS

Note: each ** comment in this APPLICATION doc comes from CHAPTER doc(s), where the comments are in numerical order according to verse(s) from the chapter

** The first object from which our heavenly Father weans his child is from the idol SELF

• Of all idols, ‘self’ is the hardest to abandon

• It is reluctant to relinquish his throne, yielding to the supreme control and sway of another <W211>

Psalm 131:2 NIV

[2] But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

** The Lord warned the Israelites of their wayward ways but they did not listen, so He got their attention another way!

• Times of distress are often not times of punishment, but discipline

• God permits them, and intends to do us good through them <R1795>

2 Chronicles 33:10-11 NIV

[10] The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. [11] So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

** God is screaming to us to turn to Him in repentance. He has blessed this country with so many good things, and instead of turning to the Lord, people are turning from Him. And God is shouting to us, because He knows the pain is coming when His true wrath must punish those who reject His Son.

In the heart of Hollywood, God is shouting to people, “Hey, you better turn to me.” The Bible tells us what’s coming during the Tribulation period. The LA fires are a merciful call to repentance -- perhaps a last, loving call to accept God’s order, rather than the anti-God way of wokeness and rebellion. <J100> (Jan 2025)

Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV

** God has used weather as punishment in the past, particularly against Israel for her sin, as He will also use in the Millennial Kingdom <D497>

Amos 4:7-8 NIV

[7] “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. [8] People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

Zechariah 14:16-19 NIV

[16] Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. [17] If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. [18] If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. [19] This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

** God is in control of every moment of our life, including being aware of and giving us hope in the midst of affliction and struggle

Psalm 31:2-3 NIV

[2] Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. [3] Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Psalm 31:10,12 NIV

[10] My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. [12] I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.

Psalm 31:24 NIV

[24] Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

** Paul was sure that God’s power would work within the Corinthians, to change the minds and hearts of the majority and reestablish their obedience; any who continued to resist would then be disciplined <R1795>

2 Corinthians 10:6 NIV

[6] And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

** As Christians, our joy-filled response to suffering can be a powerful testimony to others; trust that others will understand they too can have a 'peace beyond understanding' that is only available through Christ <M1501>

• Jesus on the cross gave us a prime example of what it means to forgive our enemies, when He asked the Father to forgive those who were putting Him to death

• Don't let the powers of evil consume you but, rather, reveal to others the fruit of the Holy Spirit that includes love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness

• It doesn't matter what comes against us, but it matters what comes out of us!

• Through the strength that God provides, our response to suffering is what separates Christianity from all other religions; for instance, insulting Muhammad results in death vs Christians calling out evil in love!

• Bottom line: response is to be bathed in LOVE as believers focus on Christ and not the suffering

• This means the believer's positive response to suffering (that is a result of evil) should be motivated out of a desire to see the salvation of non-believers or maturity of other believers

• Don't forget that Satan wants to divert our attention off God and onto the trials

• In response, the church is to stand strong and not house a bunch of 'pew-sitters'; when the enemy throws a punch, throw one back even harder!

• The punch doesn't look like the evil that is expected by the world but a punch motivated by love and prayer that can send them staggering with questions, realizing there is 'a better way' than caving into evil

James 1:2 NIV

[2] Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

[6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 5:22 NIV

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness

** The grumbling behavior of the Israelites on the journey to Sinai shows us why God found it necessary to introduce His Law <R1795>

• The Law, with its clear standards, served to make the Israelites responsible for their actions

• This also provided God with a basis on which He could discipline when His people did wrong

• God continues to discipline His children, not to punish but to guide

Exodus 16:2-3 NIV

[2] In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. [3] The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Hebrews 12:10 NIV

[10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.

** The assembly did not learn from the previous day when God destroyed the men who rose up against Moses, and they grumbled against the leaders

• The Lord unleashed His wrath against this obstinate people

• There are times when people simply will not change their mind and believe, despite the miracles and evidence they see (or refuse to see)

• People who refused to listen to Moses were 'cut off' from their people

• Like in the days of Moses, it's best to stop talking to those who refuse to believe because, at this point, any word from you is not going to change their mind <D40>

Numbers 16:41-45 NIV

[41] The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said. [42] But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. [43] Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, [44] and the Lord said to Moses, [45] “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.

Numbers 16:46-50 NIV

[46] Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.” [47] So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. [48] He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. [49] But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. [50] Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Acts 3:22-23 NIV

[22] For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. [23] Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.'

** Although it is not a popular concept within the Arminian Church today, God creates good and brings disaster. He creates good because He is good, and He wants to bless His creation with all the joys and blessings He can pour on them.

But He also is the one who creates disaster because it is necessary for the discipline of His wayward creation and also to keep history moving to its predetermined end.

Now this is not to say that all the bad things that happen are because God orchestrates them. Surely not. There is sin that is allowed to exist in this spec of time for a reason. It has its purpose. And it is allowed by God for a short season compared to all eternity and that reason in a nutshell is so God can bring honor to His Son, create a bride of faithful redeemed humanity for His Son, and through God’s allowance of sin it allows Him to display all of His amazing qualities that we would never know without sin’s brief existence. Yet the Bible says God is not the author of sin.

Isaiah 45:7 NIV

[7] I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

James 1:13 NIV

[13] When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

Yet sin and the Satanic realm have a purpose that all fits under the perfect sovereignty of God’s ultimate plan. <B315>

1 Peter 5:8 NIV

[8] Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

** God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to lose his mind -- used as a teachable moment that both addressed the consequence of pride and revealed God's sovereignty <D41>

• Losing his mind was a form of humbling and punishment in response to Nebuchadnezzar's pride

• The book of Daniel describes how the king, after boasting about his accomplishments, was driven from human society and lived like an animal for seven years <W2201>

James 4:6b NIV

[6] Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

The mortal indicators of the earthly King Nebuchadnezzar lasted for seven years:

• His hair grew like feathers

• His nails grew like claws

• He crawled around in a pasture like an animal on all fours

• He grazed grass like an animal

• His body stayed wet from the dew

God permitted this outward sign so the living would know that:

• God is in control

• God raises up leaders

• God brings down leaders

• God puts the leader He wants in charge

• God even puts bad leaders in charge

Psalm 111:3-4,10 NIV

[3] Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. [4] He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. [10] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Daniel 4:17,25,32 NIV

[17] “'The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.' [25] You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. [32] You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”

** God doesn’t tempt anyone to sin <L120>

• He is light; sin is darkness; the two can’t coexist

• There is no dark side to Him

• God’s light exposes darkness and shows us the ugly truth behind the attractive things that tempt us

• His goodness is perfect; we never have to question His motives because He wants only what’s best for us

James 1:13 NIV

[13] When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone

• Not only that, God gives us an escape route from every temptation we face

1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

[13] No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

** While this world appears to be spinning out of control into utter madness, it is exactly the place God knew it would be today

• God not only knew it would be like this, but He planned for it to be like this; He planned this world’s end before He even created it <B315>

• Things aren't falling apart, they're falling into place <M131>

Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV

[9] Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. [10] I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'

Ecclesiastes 3:11,14-15 NIV

[11] He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. [14] I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. [15] Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

Revelation 22:13 NIV

[13] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

** The Bible is replete with examples of God allowing other people groups to interact with Israel, forcing Jewish people into decisions they would have not made otherwise (Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and many more) <M135>

Isaiah 43:3-9 NIV

[3] For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. [4] Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. [5] Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. [6] I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth--- [7] everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. ” [8] Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. [9] All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”

** When we focus on the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, he advanced the 'awaiting lesson' when he gave his son his inheritance

• The father's son had a lesson to learn and the father did not stand in the way

• The father knew that 'the only way out, is through' and allowed his son to learn the hard way by giving his son the freedom and resources <E58>

• The son proceeded to ruin his life and realized the need to go home when he came to his senses

• Notice how quickly the father responded in giving his son his inheritance when demanded, even though the father knew his son would squander it

• Similarly, God often gives us what we ask in order with the intent to make us mature and strong followers through difficult lessons

• Likewise, the church should not pamper those whose who go against God's ways but rather hold them accountable

• The church needs to challenge its members and let them go to learn the hard way -- patiently waiting and praying for their return, then lovingly receiving them back if and when they do return

Luke 15:11-13 NIV

[11] Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. [12] The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. [13] “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

** Satan is in the business of complicating the simple truth, playing to the high-minded empty philosophy humans prefer to believe, but there is a price to pay for those who go along with his lies <M132>

• Satan continues in his aim to spite God

• He couldn’t go after God Himself, so he went after Adam and Eve just as he goes after those who follow God today <D505>

• Satan’s approach to Eve is a classic model of the reasoning that leads us into sin; God’s command established a standard, and Satan attacked this standard in three ways:

Satan questioned the existence of the standard: “Did God really say?”
Satan cast doubt on God’s motives for establishing the standard: “God knows that when you eat…”
Satan denied the consequences of violating the standard: “You will not surely die” <R1795>

• God only asked one thing of the couple in the garden: to OBEY HIS COMMAND

• Since they refused to obey, God had to invoke consequence

• God continues to invoke consequences on a sinful disobedient people

Genesis 3:1,4-5 NIV

[1] Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'? ” [4] “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. [5] “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

** God's anger was aroused when His people complained about leaving Egypt

• God’s anger resulted in fire to the outskirts of the camp as a warning sign to the entire Israelite community

• God also responded to their complaining by making them sick on quail

• Every defeat believers experience is ultimately rooted in unbelief <R1795>

Numbers 11:1-2 NIV

[1] Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. [2] When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.

Numbers 11:18-20 NIV

[18] “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. [19] You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, [20] but for a whole month---until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it---because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

** The punishment God pronounced on Moses was to remain, instructing him not to "speak to me anymore about this matter"

• Moses one act of disobedience was severely punished to remind us that no one is immune to divine discipline

• No one can sin safely

• God did grant Moses’ request (in a way) by allowing him to look at the Promised Land from the heights of Mount Pisgah

• Moses did not go over the Jordan but saw the good land to which he successfully led God’s people <R1795>

Numbers 20:7-12 NIV

[7] The Lord said to Moses, [8] “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” [9] So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he commanded him. [10] He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” [11] Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. [12] But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

Deuteronomy 3:23-27 NIV

[23] At that time I pleaded with the Lord: [24] “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? [25] Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan---that fine hill country and Lebanon. ” [26] But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. [27] Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan.

** Too many pastors (including those in the Amillennial camp) advocate that the next time the Lord directly intervenes in human history will be at His Second Coming just prior to the eternal state. By pushing all judgment to the end of the age, they fail to recognize or believe the repeated warnings concerning the Day of the Lord wrath. God will punish the wickedness of the US and other nations long before the end of the age. <B26>

** The first time God destroyed His creation was with water in the days of Noah; the next (and last) time will be with fire, but He will do so with restraint

Revelation 16:8 NIV

[8] The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire.

Luke 12:49 NIV

[49] “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

** The laws of the Old Testament were not random, for God specifically outlined how the Israelites were to set themselves apart from the surrounding pagan nations <D40>

• Israel was located in the heart of all other nations when it was first established

• The Mosaic law given to the Israelites was to demonstrate the holiness of God against ‘standard’ procedure found in other nations

• Israel could honor God by abiding by His law and be a light to her neighbors that showed their allegiance to Him

• People of God are not supposed to look like everybody else! <E58>

• God was disciplining His people through this Mosaic code; they were going through their own ‘boot camp’ of sorts

• Today we have scientific support justifying why God commanded His people with many of these commands, such as increased hygiene and health

• Even though Christians are not bound to the law given to the early Israelites, God’s people today should be disciplined in a similar manner to uphold His moral law

Leviticus 18:4-5 NIV

[4] You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. [5] Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:1 NIV

[1] Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

Ezekiel 11:20-21 NIV

[20] Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. [21] But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. ”

** For 40 years, 3-5 million Israelites survived without a police force or standing army because they had God’s moral law

• Today society relies on a civil law that tries to accomplish what God’s moral law already accomplished

• Every decision in life is covered by God’s Ten Commandments

• Any law is intended to restrain people so they can survive and pursue excellence

• God’s law should point us back to Him as our ultimate and only hope! <M149>

Exodus 24:12 NIV

[12] The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

** How can we tell the difference between a natural disaster and judgment of God? <J102>

a) Timing of event - which is typically immediately after an action that displeases God; example Hurricane Katrina that hit after the US tried to break up the land of Israel

b) Magnitude of event - a disaster that comes out of nowhere and has devastating results; people often ask how a storm can form that fast!

c) Prophetic voices declaring event ahead of time, similar to Haggai who chastised the people for repairing their own homes before God’s temple

Haggai 1:3-7 NIV

[3] Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: [4] “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? ” [5] Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. [6] You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” [7] This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

** The Bible tells us that God tested Abraham. We don’t know for certain but perhaps Isaac began to fill the spot that Abraham had previously reserved for God.

Genesis 22:2 NIV

[2] Then God said, “Take your son , your only son, whom you love---Isaac---and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you. ”

Even then, Abraham had his priorities right. He was willing to give up Isaac to the Lord believing that, if necessary, He would resurrect him from the dead. Of course, we know the rest of the story. At the last moment, God spared Isaac and Abraham passed the test.

Genesis 22:8,11-12 NIV

[8] Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. [11] But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. [12] “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. ”

In his book The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer commented, “To the wondering patriarch [God] now says in effect, ‘It’s all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there.’ ” <L120>

** Christians are called to be disciples; the root word of 'discipline' is 'disciple', so a big part of being a disciple is to be disciplined <D40>

• Emotions are fickle and cannot be trusted

• Sometimes we need to act outside ourselves and do what God desires of us

• Faith and discipline is demonstrated when acting on thoughts that align with God's Word, not on our emotions

• Always continue on the narrow road acting in obedience to God regardless of the difficulty; pray that He provide help as needed

2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

[7] For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

** It is the privilege of every Christian to know that all of his affairs are in God's loving hands; and that nothing shall be done which will not work for his spiritual and eternal good. <S185>

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

** People who attend western churches are typically not told that suffering can lead to personal growth and righteousness <D40>

• Instead, pastors teach all ways to AVOID suffering -- don't rock the boat, don't be controversial, stay in your lane, don't take any controversial stance, don't confront evil, avoid pain at all costs, etc

• Most people protect their modern idol of COMFORT at the expense of knowing God's Word and following the Holy Spirit's lead <E58>

• Western congregants are typically robbed of the Christian's call to suffer

• With the correct perspective, suffering should move attention off ourselves and onto God

• God then has opportunity to show He can/will provide for us; we learn to listen and trust Him in the process

• Let's face it, our view of God is too small so He wants to show us that we serve an immense and amazing God!

Romans 5:3-5 NIV

[3] Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; [4] perseverance, character; and character, hope. [5] And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

** Christians are not to rejoice because of the trials and sufferings, but rejoice because they know what God will do in and through them <F60>

• God not only comforts the afflicted, but afflicts the comforted to move everyone in the direction He wants them to go -- namely into His arms

• Remember that trials are intended to prepare each of His followers to be a pure and holy bride, ready to meet their Righteous God!

1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV

Revelation 3:8 NIV

[8] I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

James 5:7-8 NIV

[7] Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. [8] You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.

** There is a time for everything, that can even be said for sin — there is a season where sin seems advantageous and gives a sense of euphoria, but then comes a time of repercussion and consequence for that sin <L120>

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

[1] There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens

Ecclesiastes 3:17 NIV

[17] I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

** God waits to deliver His wrath and stop evil, allowing time for repentance. He waits because of His gracious love. As he waits, we Christians have a key role in the world. We are salt, a preserving agent. <L124>

2 Peter 3:9-10 NIV

[9] The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Psalm 86:15 NIV

[15] But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

** The books of Exodus, Jeremiah and Ezekiel in the Old Testament have statements associated with the pouring out of God’s anger and fury

• Jeremiah and Ezekiel mention God pouring out His judgment by using the metaphor of a cup filled with his anger and rage

• In modern times, these expressions hold significant theological and moral implications; they are reminders that God’s holy and righteous nature cannot be violated with impunity

• These metaphorical terms are prompts, notices, and aide-memoirs to individuals and societies to uphold moral values <C400>

Exodus 7:4-5 NIV

[4] he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. [5] And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

Jeremiah 25:15-17 NIV

[15] This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. [16] When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” [17] So I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it:

Ezekiel 23:31-32 NIV

[31] You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand. [32] “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister's cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

** How can we tell the difference between a natural disaster and judgment of God? (Nathan Jones)

a) Timing of event - which is typically immediately after an action that displeases God; example Hurricane Katrina that hit after the US tried to break up the land of Israel

b) Magnitude of event - a disaster that comes out of nowhere and has devastating results; people often ask how a storm can form that fast!

c) Prophetic voices declaring event ahead of time, similar to Haggai who chastised the people for repairing their own homes before God’s temple

All of the Israelites efforts were not printing them or God, so they had to experience God’s discipline to get them to change their ways (Tim Moore)

Haggai 1:3-7 NIV

** Perhaps the most striking aspect of the story of the woman caught in adultery is how skillfully it illustrates the harmony of justice and mercy in Christ’s salvation. God pronounces judgment on sin but provides a way to escape condemnation (Rom 3:23; 8:1). Jesus does not encourage the sin, but He loves the sinner. The Lord silences the critics of this world while healing hearts that are burdened with guilt and shame. God never treats sin casually but calls sinners to turn away from their old, corrupt way of life (Eph 4:17–24).

The incident of the woman caught in adultery shines light into each of our own hearts and exposes the widespread existence of sin. After Jesus prompted the accusers to consider their own lives, all of them dropped their stones and walked away, knowing they, too, deserved the same punishment. <G72>

John 8:6 NIV

[6] They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

Romans 3:23 NIV

[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 8:1 NIV

[1] Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 4:17-24 NIV

[17] So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. [18] They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. [19] Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. [20] That, however, is not the way of life you learned [21] when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. [22] You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

** God chastises or disciplines the believer, where He punishes or places His wrath on the unbeliever <P161>

• A father can punish a child but his MOTIVE is love, just as God disciplines those He loves

• Despite the terminology used (punishment vs chastisement) the person receiving it should remember it is prompted by God’s love for them

1 John 4:18 NIV

[18] There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

** Why wouldn’t God get angry? He sees the chaos, strife, and confusion that our society now intentionally sows into the hearts and minds of its little ones. Why shouldn’t He respond with anger? When He sees cruel bullying of people who do not conform to the new and ugly norms, why wouldn’t this stir Him to wrath? When you hear about child abuse, doesn’t it outrage you? Why shouldn’t God feel the same way?

People often ask why God allows evil to continue in our world. But when they blame God for allowing evil, they are really blaming God for allowing human choice. They expect choice for themselves, then become angry with God when others make bad choices. <L124>

Jeremiah 44:2-6 NIV

[2] “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins [3] because of the evil they have done. They aroused my anger by burning incense to and worshiping other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever knew. [4] Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, 'Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!' [5] But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. [6] Therefore, my fierce anger was poured out; it raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins they are today.

** The purpose in God sending locusts was to bring His people back to Him; when they did return, God took pity on them and restored their land <J102>

Joel 1:4 NIV

[4] What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.

Joel 2:17-18,25 NIV

[17] Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God? ' ” [18] Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people. [25] “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten---the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm---my great army that I sent among you.

** Although it is true that "whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" — still we are not all called upon to suffer great tribulation. God appoints for each, the discipline needed to prepare him for glory.

With some He deals gently, for "He knows how much the weak can bear." He sees the tenderness of their spirits, the gentleness of their nature. With others He may appear to deal more harshly, for He alone knows how hard and stubborn is their will, how great their backslidings, how needful all this seeming severity. He also permits great tribulation to fall upon some, that they may be examples to His Church: examples of love, of patience, of long-suffering — and is not this an honor? Shall we not count it all joy to be thus tried?

The anticipation of suffering is often a cause of greater anguish than suffering itself; for though we are told not to worry about anything — still, the anxious mind will often distress itself with gloomy forebodings while in this valley of tears. But in Heaven, we shall have no fear of evil because there will be no cause for fear. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes:

• The tear of sympathy

• The tear of pity

• The tear of separation

• The tear of pain

• The tear of godly sorrow for sin

• The tear of disappointed hope

• The tear of wounded affection

— shall flow no more, for ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' <S191>

Revelation 7:17 NIV

[17] For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; 'he will lead them to springs of living water.' 'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' ”

Revelation 21:4 NIV

[4] 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

** God knows the sincerity of a person’s commitment to Him by whether they repent; God wouldn’t discipline us and ask us to repent if He didn’t love us <F60>

Revelation 3:19 NIV

[19] Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

[21] “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

** God’s idea of justice centers around righteousness; the world’s practice of corrupt justice, in contrast, is centered on lies that will eventually be exposed

Isaiah 28:17-19 NIV

[17] I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. [18] Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it. [19] As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.

Isaiah 5:5 NIV

[5] Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

** The parable of the farmer underlined the lessons of judgment; as the farmer does different tasks, each in the right season and proportion, so God adopts His measures to His purposes — now mercy, then judgment, punishing sooner than later <M130>

God’s purpose was not to destroy His people, any more than the farmer’s object in his threshing and plowing is to destroy his crop

Isaiah 28:23-26,29 NIV

[23] Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. [24] When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil? [25] When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? [26] His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. [29] All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.

** Sadly, people need to suffer in order to turn their attention toward God, and the seal judgments in Revelation become increasingly devastating for this to happen; this is what happened with the judgments on Egypt when Pharaoh hardened his heart — the final judgment had to be death <D40>

• The firstborn son was special in the Biblical world because he was expected to guide his family into the next generation, carrying the family name

• The death of every firstborn in Egypt was a stunning loss

• If Pharaoh had relented at any stage, he could have avoided the more serious troubles that followed

• God’s judgments are often gracious in the same way – they become more severe as we continue to resist Him

• When we sense the disciplining hand of God, it’s wise to surrender immediately

• Why should God have to strike what is dearest to us before we respond? <R1795>

Exodus 11:4-6 NIV

[4] So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. [5] Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. [6] There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt---worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

** Though Job was presently in as hot a furnace as he could possibly endure, he believed he was put into it by a skillful Refiner for the purifying of his soul from dross <S179>

Job 23:10 NIV

[10] But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

• Those who are truly godly learn to view the hand of God both in their comforts and in their troubles

• They know that affliction does not come by chance but from the hand of Him who directs everything with consummate wisdom

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Zechariah 13:9 NIV

[9] This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God. ' ”

Revelation 3:19 NIV

[19] Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Job 5:17 NIV

[17] “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Hebrews 12:10-11 NIV

[10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. [11] No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

** God’s judgment may not come immediately, but it WILL come

Daniel 4:29-31 NIV

[29] Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, [30] he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” [31] Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

[1] There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens

Ecclesiastes 3:17 NIV

[17] I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

** Jesus wept as He approached Jerusalem because He knew the Romans would be used as an agent of God's wrath for rejecting His Son <J1093>

Luke 19:41-44 NIV

[41] As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it [42] and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace---but now it is hidden from your eyes. [43] The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. [44] They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.”

** Pharaoh and Egypt had brought God's judgments on themselves [going against the Israelites for] 400 years of slavery and mass murder. Since the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and Pharaoh and Egypt had horribly sinned against God, it would have been just if God had completely annihilated Egypt.

Therefore, God hardening Pharaoh’s heart was not unjust, and His bringing additional plagues against Egypt was not unjust. The plagues, as terrible as they were, actually demonstrate God’s mercy in not completely destroying Egypt, which would have been a perfectly just penalty.

From a human perspective, it seems wrong for God to harden a person and then punish the person He has hardened. Biblically speaking, however, we have all sinned against God (Rom 3:23), and the just penalty for that sin is death (Rom 6:23). Therefore, God’s hardening and punishing a person is not unjust; it is actually merciful in comparison to what the person deserves. <G72>

Exodus 7:3-4 NIV

[3] But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, [4] he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.

Romans 9:17-18 NIV

[17] For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” [18] Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

** Once God removes the Church in the last days, He will complete His mission and fulfill His promises to the Jews using the Tribulation to motivate them to repentance and restoration

Look at the order of events:

1. God took from the Gentiles a people for His name in the current Church Age

2. After God is done taking people from the Gentiles, He will turn His attention to Israel to rebuild the Tabernacle of David <B23>

Acts 15:14-16 NIV

[14] Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. [15] The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: [16] “ 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it

** Jesus is talking to His eleven saved disciples regarding how to remain in Him; this is not a passage about salvation but about discipline and what happens when believers don’t remain in Christ

• When followers of Christ — who accepted His offer of salvation — sin they do not lose their salvation but are out of fellowship with Jesus

• Much like sinning against a spouse does not null and void the marriage; the couple is still married but out of fellowship with each other

• “Our good works are evidence OF our salvation, not FOR our salvation.” <G70>

• Being cut off from Christ can have devastating results with loss of rewards (not eternal punishment) if not corrected

• Followers of Christ can not bear lasting fruit if they are out of fellowship with Him <W213>

John 15:1-2 NIV

[1] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. [2] He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

John 15:6 NIV

[6] If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

** The Tribulation and the punishment of Hell may seem cruel and unreasonable in our way of thinking, but always remember:

• We always experience consequence for the choices we make

• The most important choice we make will produce or result in either eternal pleasure or eternal suffering

• God loves us beyond measure and longs that we choose relationship with Him

• Christ left His majesty to come to earth to eventually suffer and die as punishment for OUR sin; the ultimate sacrifice for us while we were still sinners

• All God asks in return for His sacrifice is that we accept His offer of salvation and, as a result, follow His commands via a relationship with Him

• Christ gives us every opportunity to choose whom we will serve — either God or Satan

• Unbelievers will be given a last chance to choose God through the Tribulation period

Hebrews 11:24-25 NIV

[24] By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. [25] He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

John 15:13-14 NIV

[13] Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command.

Romans 5:6-8 NIV

[6] You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

** The question isn’t “why would a loving God send someone to Hell?” but “why would someone choose Hell instead of accepting God’s free gift that saves him from such a place?”

** Those who place their faith in Christ will experience tribulations in this life, but we will not have to endure THE Tribulation at His second coming <G71>

John 15:18-21 NIV

[18] “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. [19] If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. [20] Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. [21] They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

** God gave Old Testament law to instruct the Israelites how to order and operate their society, specifically:

• How to treat women and marrying before copulating

• Establishing a structure in the family unit with responsibilities between the man and woman

• Looking out for one another; property and respect

• Economic structure; capitalist rights

• Legal process of wrongs and accountability

• Who to worship and pitfalls of idols

• Understanding dominionism and taking care of what God has given us

• The founding fathers of the US primarily used the book of Deuteronomy (God’s law) throughout their founding documents to structure American society

Deuteronomy 5:29 NIV

[29] Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

• When people journey away from God’s law, they enter into a zone of self-inflicted chaos and God will judge them for their actions <H86>

Daniel 9:11 NIV

[11] All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.

** The law exists for those who need guidance and boundaries

• Law is something like the iron bars that make a tiger’s cage

• The bars are there to keep the tiger in because the tiger can do harm if let loose

• This is why Paul said that law is made for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful

• The law is needed to provide some restraint against harmful behavior in which both Christian and non-Christian can engage <R1795>

1 Timothy 1:9-11 NIV

We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, [10] for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers---and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine [11] that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

1 Peter 2:8b NIV

They stumble because they disobey the message---which is also what they were destined for.

** I love to meditate on the work of the Holy Spirit to whom we are so much indebted, and from whom we receive such great and invaluable blessings. To Him, I feel that I am indebted for every good thought, and for every good work. How wonderful His patience, that He should bear with me so long; and how wonderful His loving-kindness, that He should confer on me so much! O that I was more deeply sensible of my obligations!

It was the Holy Spirit who QUICKENED me when I was dead in trespasses and sins:

• Imparting a new life

• Infusing new thoughts, and

• Producing new desires in my soul

Having quickened me, He CONQUERED me, subduing:

• The enmity of my heart

• The obstinacy of my will

• The worldliness of my affections

and bringing every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ

Having quickened and conquered me, He COMFORTED me, assuring me of a saving interest in:

• The love of God

• The perfect work of Jesus

• The precious promises of the Word, and

• The eternal rest which remains for the people of God

Having quickened, conquered, and comforted me, He SANCTIFIED me by:

• Separating me from the world, and

• Setting me apart for my Redeemer's glory and praise

As my Sanctifier, He became my GUIDE:

• Leading me into the truth

• Conducting me out of the paths of danger and

• Directing me into the everlasting way

Not only my guide, but He became my GUARD:

• Preserving me from danger

• Protecting me from foes, and

• Becoming a wall of fire round about me

Whenever I wander, He reproves me; when I willfully go astray, He CORRECTS me and makes me smart for my folly.

The work He began so long ago, He carries on; nor will He withdraw His hand from it, until it is perfected and I am fully fitted for glory.

The work of the Spirit within us, is as necessary as the work of Jesus for us! For if the atonement of Christ entitles us to glory, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that prepares us to possess and enjoy it. We must be washed, justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God — or we cannot be saved! <S183>

John 14:26 NIV

[26] But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

** Sinful acts need to be punished; when sin goes unpunished, it often motivates people to plan and carry out deviant behavior

Ecclesiastes 8:11 NIV

[11] When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

** We are all sinful beings; life will go better for those who fear God than those who do not

Ecclesiastes 8:12-13 NIV

[12] Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. [13] Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

** God’s judgment can involve simply ‘not restraining the evil’ that already exists in society, thus letting evil run its course unabated <D40>

Romans 1:24-25 NIV

** Know the danger of associating with fools; value rebuke and discipline from the wise

Ecclesiastes 7:4-6 NIV

[4] The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. [5] It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. [6] Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

** What should hinder him who sees God as his Heavenly Father, and believes that all events proceed from His hand, and are managed by His wisdom, and are prompted by His love.

We have perfect confidence in God's wisdom and in His love. We only do Him the justice which we would expect from our own children, when we believe that He does not afflict us willingly, nor unnecessarily grieve His redeemed children, nor ever chastens us but in love.

His was a noble saying who, when his crops were rotting in flooded fields, and poverty stared at him from the scowling heavens, and other men cursed the weather; on being asked his reason for saying that it pleased him, replied, "It pleases God to send it, and whatever pleases Him pleases me." We are ready to envy a man whose faith could triumph over such great misfortunes.

Yet why should we not lie as calmly in the arms of God's providence, as we lay in infancy on our mother's bosom? Having an ever-living, an ever-lasting, an ever-loving father in God — how may we welcome all of His providences! <G75>

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

[14] When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV

[17] Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, [18] yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Job 1:21 NIV

[21] and said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Job 2:10 NIV

[10] He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

1 Samuel 3:18 NIV

[18] So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

Matthew 26:39 NIV

[39] Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

** In the day of adversity, consider from whose hand it has been sent to you! Through whatever secondary agency it may have been conveyed, adversity comes from God's hand! <B25>

Intermediate agencies may have been employed in inflicting it, for a:

• Cherished family member may have been the messenger of disease

• Treacherous friend may have been the cause of bankruptcy

• Avowed enemy may have been the author of reproach and shame

• Satan himself may have been allowed to smite you!

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

[14] When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

Isaiah 45:7 NIV

[7] I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

Lamentations 3:38 NIV

[38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Job 2:10 NIV

[10] He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job 5:17-18 NIV

[17] “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. [18] For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.

Deuteronomy 32:39 NIV

[39] “See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.

Amos 3:6 NIV

[6] When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

** Trust God to be enough for you in any situation, regardless how dark or depressing it gets; God provides a way to overcome depression! <C31>

Psalm 42:5 NIV

[5] Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Psalm 42:11 NIV

[11] Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43:5 NIV

[5] Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

• Depression can range from not being emotionally 'there' to being debilitating where you can't go on — either way, it’s powerful and can affect believers

• Don't believe you won't experience struggle when you are a believer; we are human

STEPS TO OVERCOME DEPRESSION

1. Seek God more than relief

• Do we seek and desire God as a deer pants for water in the arid region?

• God will provide what is needed to help you overcome

2. Don't let others drag you down, like those asking "where is your God" like Job's friends tainted Job

• We can seek God even when we don't see the solution around us

• We need to demonstrate and remember what it was like to walk in faith; remember the good times when following God and know that God will bring you through

Psalm 42:3 NIV

[3] My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

3. Listen as God speaks to your heart, even though you feel overwhelmed as David did

• We can hear God despite the roaring turmoil around us

• Adversity is God's tool to build faith; He doesn't always relieve us because He isn't done teaching us yet

• God wants to speak at our deepest level — He desires deep relationship with us, not just a surface level relationship

• Typically God sends us through deep and troubled times to yearn for a deep relationship with Him

Psalm 42:7 NIV

[7] Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

[11] He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

4. Hold to the Bible as your lifeline

• The Lord speaks to us through His eternal word, providing what we need

Psalm 43:3 NIV

[3] Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

5. Get together with God's people; don't hide and feel sorry for yourself

• Go to God and place your focus on Him and ask how you can help those around you

• God may not change your circumstances but He can change your attitude as you live through it

Romans 8:37-39 NIV

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 3:16 NIV

[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 4:7,9,11 NIV

[7] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [9] This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. [11] Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

** Though this promise to “do good” was given by the Lord to Jacob, it was not confined to him but was intended for all his spiritual seed. This is what God speaks to US this morning. How gracious!

We do not know what this day may bring forth but we do know that our God, who superintends every event, will do us good. We may mistake as to what will be for our good, but He is infinite in wisdom and goodness and therefore cannot mistake.

We may look at afflictions, losses, and crosses, and cry out, "All these things are against me!" But read the history of David. What a train of troubles attended him! Hear his acknowledgment:

Psalm 119:71 NIV

[71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Your God will do you good — therefore He will try you, sift you, humble you, and prove you. He will give you needed bitter medicine, as well as food. He will consider nothing too expensive, or too painful if necessary for your soul's welfare.

• Look at your trials and say, "This also shall turn to my good!"

• Look on the past and acknowledge, "Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life."

• Look to the future and rejoice, "The Lord will surely give me that which is good."

• Look in every direction, and say, "Surely the Lord will do me good; I will trust, and not be afraid." <S183>

Genesis 32:12 NIV

[12] But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper [or do you good in KJV] and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted. '

** There are numerous ways to observe the wrath of God:

a) Eternal wrath — where God destines people to Hell forever

b) Eschatological wrath — God releasing wrath on the world during the end times (Rev 6-19)

c) Sowing & Reaping wrath — consequential wrath built into behavioral choice; you reap what you sow

d) Cataclysmic wrath — wrath expressed through natural disaster with devastating physical results

e) Wrath of abandonment — people willingly abandoning truth or reality for a lie; they suppress God’s law to live comfortably in unrighteousness, so God gives them over to their lies <M130>

Romans 1:24-26,28 NIV [abandonment of truth]

[24] Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. [25] They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator---who is forever praised. Amen. [26] Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. [28] Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

** God rewarded or blessed His people when they purged evil from among them and obeyed Him; Christians can trust that God’s ways are higher than theirs

Deuteronomy 13:17b-18 NIV

[17] ... Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors--- [18] because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.

1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV

[25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

** God sets a plumb line for us and we will gain great reward or suffer consequences depending on our obedience to it

Amos 7:7-8 NIV

[7] This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. [8] And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos? ” “A plumb line, ” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

** Some households contain:

• No family government

• No order

• No subordination

• No discipline

The children are kept under no restraint, but are allowed to do what they like. Their faults are intentionally unnoticed and unpunished, and their corruptions allowed to grow wild and headstrong; until, in fact, the whole family becomes utterly lawless, rebellious against parental authority, and grievous to all around them!

Overindulgence of children is awfully common, and continually making shocking ravages in human character. It is a system of great cruelty to the children, to the parents themselves, and to society. This practice proceeds from various causes; in some instances, from a perverted and intentional sentimentalism; in others, from absolute indolence, and a regard to present ease, which leads the silly mother to adopt any means of coaxing, and yielding, and bribing simply to keep the "young rebels" quiet for the time!

It is not uncommon for parents to treat the first acts of infantile rebellion rather as accidents to be smiled at, than as sins to be disciplined. "O," says the mother, "it is only play, he will know better soon. He does not mean any harm. I cannot discipline him." Lack of parental discipline, from whatever cause it proceeds, it is in the highest degree injurious to the character of the children! <J101>

Proverbs 29:17 NIV

[17] Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.

Proverbs 19:18 NIV

[18] Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

** Sin is a serious issue; the punishment for intentional rebellious sin (as was the man gathering wood on the Sabbath) was different than one who sins unintentionally

• Some sin is deliberate and must be addressed immediately

• Israel needed to realize that deliberate sin corrupts the community and must be dealt with decisively <R1795>

Numbers 15:27-28 NIV

[27] “ ‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. [28] The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven.

Numbers 15:30-31 NIV

[30] “ ‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. [31] Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them. ’ ”

Numbers 15:33-35 NIV

[33] Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, [34] and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. [35] Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp. ”

** God continues to allow blessing (or plenty) as well as adversity (or want) so we know that nothing is guaranteed; in both situations our dependency needs to remain on the Lord alone so He can direct our ways <F60>

Haggai 1:9-11 NIV

[9] “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. [10] Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. [11] I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

An example of God blessing His people and holding back the Devourer can be found in the book of Malachi; God challenges them to test Him in this

Malachi 3:10-12 NIV

[10] Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. [11] I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, ” says the Lord Almighty. [12] “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

** God removed His blessings when the people neglected Him which, in turn, motivated them to change their ways and build the Lord’s house to honor Him

Haggai 1:9-11 NIV

Haggai 1:14 NIV

[14] So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God

** The Lord is good and a refuge in times of trouble but there is no question He is also one who takes vengeance against His enemies, those who plot against Him

Nahum 1:7-8 NIV

[7] The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, [8] but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.

Nahum 1:2-3 NIV

[2] The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. [3] The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.

Nahum 1:9-10 NIV

[9] Whatever they plot against the Lord he will bring to an end; trouble will not come a second time. [10] They will be entangled among thorns and drunk from their wine; they will be consumed like dry stubble.

** The afflictions of the wicked are punishments from God, as an angry Judge. But the afflictions of the godly are chastisements from God, as a gracious Father!

The afflictions of the wicked, moreover, are preludes to their future misery. But the corrections of the godly are preparations for their future glory! <S181>

Psalm 119:67,71 NIV

[67] Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. [71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

** A prudent child of God welcomes discipline for it strengthens and corrects his path

Psalm 141:5 NIV

[5] Let a righteous man strike me---that is a kindness; let him rebuke me---that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.

** God does not force anyone to do anything; He can make things uncomfortable while He shows what is right/wrong and try to reason with us, but not apply force

Jonah 4:9-11 NIV

[9] But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I'm so angry I wish I were dead.” [10] But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. [11] And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left---and also many animals?”

** Our God is a God of discipline and grace; both part of who God is, for His ultimate desire is that everyone turn to Him for forgiveness <C31>

God provided:

• A storm to stop Jonah (discipline), and

• A whale that saved him (grace)

Jonah 3:10 NIV

[10] When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

** What a view do we here obtain of the humility of those glorious and sinless beings, the angels of God! They "fall on their faces before the throne" when they worship God.

How humble, then, ought we to be, who are not pure and sinless creatures — but vile and sinful dust and ashes, who have forgotten God, and insulted Him times without number!

Humble, indeed, we ought to be — yet we are proud; we dislike humility, except so far as God graciously teaches us. Oh! it is He alone who can humble our proud hearts, and thus prepare us for the worship of Heaven. This He does by means of providential chastenings and afflictions. His design in them is to humble us, and prepare us for glory.

And shall we shrink from the process? No, let us lay our proud souls at His feet, imploring Him to undertake the gracious work of teaching us humility. Let us not fear the needful discipline. <S191>

Revelation 7:11-12 NIV

[11] All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Matthew 5:3 NIV

[3] “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

** God demonstrated great POWER, not only generating a storm but dramatically arranging for a fish to swallow Jonah to accomplish His will; Gods circumvented natural laws to enable this to happen <C31>

Many references to "great" were included in this text and in every instance this greatness points our attention to God

• The storm (1:4)

• Fear (1:10, 16)

• City (1:2, 3:3)

• God’s solution of a fish (1:17)

Jonah 1:17 NIV

[17] Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 1:4 NIV

[4] Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

Jonah 1:10,16 NIV

[10] This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) [16] At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Jonah 1:2 KJV

[2] Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Jonah 3:3 KJV

[3] So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

Jonah 1:17 KJV

[17] Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

** The great storm encountered by Jonah was not punishment but more of an intervention, intended to turn him around; God's timing is crucial, for the Ninevites were ready to hear the gospel

God had plans for Jonah to complete His will and wanted him to LISTEN and OBEY when He spoke; if His first plan wasn't followed then He moved to subsequent plans:

• Plan A was to send Jonah to Nineveh, but He had to go to plan B

• Plan B was to send a storm to warn Jonah, but He had to go to plan C

• Plan C was God sending a non-believing captain who told Jonah to 'arise' and pray; we don't know that Jonah prayed until he was in the fish

• God had to go to plan D which was waking Jonah up in the belly of the fish

God’s overall aim is NOT to let His people do whatever they want just to "keep them happy"; that is not His aim, nor should it be our aim with our kids! <C31>

Jonah 1:11-12 NIV

[11] The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” [12] “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

** Jonah deserved justice from disobedience yet received God's MERCY; even throwing Jonah overboard was a death sentence (so Jonah and sailors thought) but God extended mercy

• Mercy = don't receive what we deserve

• Grace = receive what we don't deserve

Jonah 1:14-16 NIV

[14] Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” [15] Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. [16] At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Jonah 1:17 NIV

[17] Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

** God provides signs to direct us in different ways, as He was at work to reach Jonah; He is always at work directing His children and we can be so thankful He pursues us to save us from destruction!

In the Jonah account, God was at work getting Jonah’s attention and reaching the sailors:

• God found a way to get Jonah’s attention to do His will

• God patiently pursued Jonah

• He set Jonah straight when Jonah chose a divergent path

• His intervention will probably be difficult and come at a cost but it is worth it!

• God used the situation to connect with the sailors

• The storm was not normal but came after them!

• The sailors sought divine help but just not the right help

• The sailors were seeking to meet the spiritual need within them; as people all around the world seek spiritual answers, so the sailors were seeking for answers <C31>

Jonah 1:7,10-11 NIV

[7] Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. [10] This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) [11] The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

Ephesians 2:1 NIV

[1] As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

John 6:44 NIV

[44] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV

[4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions---it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [7] in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith---and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast.

** God’s chastisement will not escape His chosen nation for God disciplines those He loves

Amos 3:1-2 NIV

[1] Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you---against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: [2] “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. ”

Hebrews 12:6 NIV

[6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

** The tribulation is designed for two things, and two things only. The 1st is the removal of sin and all rebellion of those who live on the face of the earth, by fire, by famine, and by divine wrath poured out on the people of this earth. The 2nd reason is the refining of Israel into a nation ready to accept their Messiah. He will make Himself known to them and they will weep bitterly. <T201>

Zechariah 12:9-10 NIV

[9] On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. [10] “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son

** It is of first importance that we learn to draw a sharp distinction between Divine punishment and Divine chastisement. The distinction is very simple, yet is it often lost sight of.

God's people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins, for God has already punished them at the Cross. The Lord Jesus, our Blessed Substitute, suffered the full penalty of all our guilt; hence it is written "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." Neither the justice nor the love of God, will permit Him to again exact payment of what Christ discharged to the full.

Romans 8:3 NIV

[3] For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh

While the believer's sins cannot be punished, yet he may be chastised. The Christian occupies an entirely different position from the non-Christian; he is a member of the Family of God. The relationship which now exists between him and God is that of parent and child; and as a son he must be disciplined for wrongdoing. Folly is bound in the hearts of all God's children, and the rod is necessary to rebuke, to subdue, to humble.

When the believer is smarting under the rod let him not say, "God is now punishing me for my sins!" That can never be! That is most dishonoring to the blood of Christ. God is correcting you in love — not smiting in wrath!

Some of the saintliest of God's people, some of the most obedient of His children have been, and are the greatest sufferers.

Oftentimes, God's chastenings are CORRECTIVE. They are sent to empty us of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. They are given to discover to us hidden transgressions, and to teach us the plague of our own hearts.

Or again, chastisements are sent to STRENGTHEN our faith, to raise us to higher levels of experience, to bring us into a condition of usefulness.

Still again, Divine chastisement is sent as a PREVENTATIVE, to keep under pride, to save us from being unduly elated over success in God's service.

Remember, your afflictions are among the "all things" which work together for good. Learn, then, to look upon trials as proofs of God's love — purging, pruning, and purifying you. <P161>

Hebrews 12:6 NIV

[6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Hebrews 12:10 NIV

[10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.

** Some of the days of my life will be days of discipline--of the pruning knife and the cleansing fire. But when He is with me, the discipline is a blessing, and not a curse.

Many of the days, too, will be days of monotony. They must be spent in little things--household labors, common concerns, unnoticed toil. I may long for a more striking and interesting experience. But when He is with me, I know that He makes my life like His own--the blessed life He lived among carpenters' tools, and village streets, and peasant people. The drudgery is a love-message--it is Jesus Christ in disguise!

Every day will be a day of temptation. In the home, in the business, in company, in loneliness--I shall encounter the devil's subtle snares. But let my Lord be with me, and temptation will but reveal the closeness and blessedness of the tie. It will be an instrument which He uses to impart more maturity to my graces--more courage, more patience, more trust.

Perhaps one of the days will be the day of death. But if He does not leave or forsake me, then death will be an ingredient in the training that fits me for the glorious inheritance! As John Bunyan pictures it--I must cross the 'River of Death' to reach the 'Celestial City'. Jesus did it Himself, and the disciple is not above the Master. His Everlasting Arms will sustain me in the flood; and, on the other side, I shall enter the 'Beautiful Gate' and see His face!

ALL the days He is with me--to the end, and through the end, and beyond the end forever and ever! Whether I live, therefore, or whether I die--I am His and He is mine! <S182>

Psalm 139:16b NIV

[16] ...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Matthew 28:20b NIV

[20] ...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

** When people are satisfied, they become full of pride, and the Lord must respond with discipline

Hosea 13:5-7 NIV

[5] I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat. [6] When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. [7] So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

** Hosea often talks of Israel in her youth and how God guided her early steps

Hosea 11:1-2 NIV

[1] “When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called my son. [2] But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

Hosea 11:3-4 NIV

[3] It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. [4] I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

** God sometimes removes Himself and His blessings as a form of punishment, with the aim of bringing the lost back to Him

Hosea 9:1-3 NIV

[1] Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. [2] Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them. [3] They will not remain in the Lord's land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.

Psalm 84:11 NIV

[11] For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

** The Lord will bring down the prideful Ephraim, its beauty fading like a flower past its bloom

• Descendants of Ephraim became known as the tribe of Ephraim, which was designated as one of the twelve tribes of Israel

• They settled in central Canaan, just northwest of the Dead Sea

• The tribe of Ephraim was chastised for idolatry (Hos 4:17) and their partnership with heathen nations (Hos 12:1)

• The tribe of Ephraim was taken into captivity by the Assyrians in 722 BC when the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered <G72>

Leviticus 26:19 NIV

[19] I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.

Hosea 4:16-19 NIV

[16] The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow? [17] Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone! [18] Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways. [19] A whirlwind will sweep them away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

Hosea 5:4-6 NIV

[4] “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. [5] Israel's arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them. [6] When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

Hosea 12:1 NIV

[1] 12 Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.

Isaiah 28:3-5 NIV

[3] That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot. [4] That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like figs ripe before harvest---as soon as people see them and take them in hand, they swallow them. [5] In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.

** The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted for 40 days

• God sometimes leads us into difficulty and temptation to test us, to increase our endurance, and to rely and strengthen our faith in Him – to make us victorious!

• Allow Him to order our steps into all truth and to show us things to come <F61>

• Jesus voluntarily fasted with an abstinence from food for the purpose of devoting Himself to seeking God and strengthen His endurance

• This testing time prepared Him for the three-year ministry that would change the world <G72>

• Jesus began His ministry in the power of the Spirit and announced that the Spirit of the Lord was on Him to preach the Good News

• The Holy Spirit continues to enable us to serve the Lord <R1795>

Luke 4:1-2 NIV

[1] Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, [2] where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Luke 4:14-15 NIV

[14] Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. [15] He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

** God has seen fit to stop you in the midst of your busy life and to lay you aside for a while. It is not by chance that His afflicting hand has fallen upon you. It is not at random that He has chastened you.

It may seem to be a mere accident that you are afflicted and not another. But no; God has done it purposely! God afflicts His children because He desires to do them some great good.

The GARDENER cuts and prunes his tree to make it grow better and bear more precious fruit. In the same way, God often uses His sharp knife for some gracious purpose.

The wise and loving FATHER thwarts his child and sometimes scourges it for its good. Just so, God uses His chastening rod for the very same reason.

The skillful PHYSICIAN prescribes nauseous medicines to restore his patient's health. In the same way, God makes us take His bitter medicines, though at the time they are very distasteful to us.

Why does God afflict us? Because He loves us and wishes to make us holy as He is holy and happy as He is happy. For, as it has been well said, "Fiery trials make golden Christians!" <O159>

Job 5:6 NIV

[6] For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

Deuteronomy 8:5 NIV

[5] Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Psalm 119:75 NIV

[75] I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Revelation 3:19 NIV

[19] Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Hebrews 12:6 NIV

[6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Psalm 39:9 NIV

[9] I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.

** People will turn to God in their misery; this will still happen to Israel in the end times after having been dispersed across the globe since 70 AD <H87>

Hosea 5:15 NIV

[15] Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face---in their misery they will earnestly seek me. ”

Zechariah 12:10 NIV

[10] “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

** We put God in a situation where He HAS to ‘take His belt off’ and punish us for our sinful ways, otherwise He is not a good Father <D40>

** There is a point when God will not negotiate with those who reject Him any longer; a red line has been crossed

Amos 8:1-2 NIV

[1] This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. [2] “What do you see, Amos? ” he asked. “A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

Amos 8:7 NIV

[7] The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

** Hosea’s wife (Israel) needed to repent or suffer God’s wrath

Hosea 2:2 NIV

[2] “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

** God made her (Israel) path difficult so she would realize her need to go back to her first love

Hosea 2:6-7 NIV

[6] Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. [7] She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.'

** God dealt with the king’s pride in a very overt way

Daniel 5:20-21 NIV

[20] But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. [21] He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.

Daniel 5:26-28 NIV

[26] “Here is what these words mean: Mene : God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. [27] Tekel : You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. [28] Peres : Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel 5:30-31 NIV

[30] That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, [31] and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

** The king was not ignorant of what he should do and therefore knew he would experience the greatest judgment

Daniel 5:22,30-31 NIV

[22] “But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. [30] That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, [31] and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Daniel 5:30-31 NIV

[30] That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, [31] and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

** God allows us to undergo difficulty so we recognize His deliverance; besides applying this to any particular deliverance, we should have in our thoughts the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ by which believers were rescued from Satan <H83>

Psalm 124:1-5 NIV

[1] If the Lord had not been on our side---let Israel say--- [2] if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, [3] they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; [4] the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, [5] the raging waters would have swept us away.

** God leaves room for people to repent and acknowledge Him as 'sovereign over all', as indicated in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream

• Nebuchadnezzar decided to glory in his own accomplishments so God immediately humbled him

• As punishment for his pride, Nebuchadnezzar would dwell with the beasts of the field and eat grass like oxen until he knew that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses <D497>

• Nebuchadnezzar later repented after his suffering and was restored to his throne

Daniel 4:24-26 NIV

[24] “This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: [25] You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. [26] The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules.

Daniel 4:29-31 NIV

Daniel 4:34-37 NIV

[34] At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. [35] All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” [36] At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. [37] Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

** May Israel say — the danger was so great, their helplessness so manifest, and the deliverance was so clearly the work of God, that it was proper to say that if this had not occurred, ruin would have been inevitable and entire <C33>

Psalm 124:6-8 NIV

[6] Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. [7] We have escaped like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. [8] Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

** God’s punishment against nations was intended to get people to focus on Him

Ezekiel 32:15 NIV

[15] When I make Egypt desolate and strip the land of everything in it, when I strike down all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord. '

** The third time Babylonian forces appeared before Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the city and its temple to be razed and the majority of its people taken into captivity <R1795>

• The Babylonian captivity seems on the surface to be a great tragedy, yet it proved to be an unusual blessing

• In Babylon, Jews turned to the Scriptures to understand what happened to them and decisively rejected idolatry, never again to be drawn to the worship of false gods after their captivity

• And in Babylon, the synagogue system of study and prayer was instituted helping Israel focus on Scripture; it remains to this day

2 Kings 25:1-2 NIV

[1] So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. [2] The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

** Purpose of God's judgment and consequent discipline is to bring glory to God

Ezekiel 39:27-29 NIV

[27] When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations. [28] Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. [29] I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord. ”

** God does not take pleasure or want to punish the sinner for his sin but pleads that they turn from their sin; God loves us that He does not want sin to harm us

Ezekiel 33:11 NIV

[11] Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?'

** We know all things are dispensed to us by infinite wisdom — in number, weight, and measure; with a far greater accuracy than any doctor can adjust his medicines to the state and strength of his patients.

The flesh will feel the sharp affliction, but faith and prayer will lighten the burden and heal the wound. Daily your sense of the Lord's goodness will increase, and the sense of pain will abate so that you will have less sorrow, and more joy, from day to day.

What a blessing to be a Christian — to have a hiding place and a resting place always at hand! To be assured that all things work for our good, and that our compassionate Shepherd has His eye always upon us to support and to relieve us. <N150>

Job 1:21 NIV

[21] and said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

** Do not blame God for being unjust when you are not living by His decree

Ezekiel 33:17-19 NIV

[17] “Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just. [18] If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. [19] And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so.

** God used the king of Babylon and his army as instruments of destruction so they would recognize Him, making one wicked man a scourge to another; at this time, no place in the land of Egypt escaped the fury of the Chaldeans

Ezekiel 30:10-12 NIV

[10] “ 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ 'I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. [11] He and his army---the most ruthless of nations---will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain. [12] I will dry up the waters of the Nile and sell the land to an evil nation; by the hand of foreigners I will lay waste the land and everything in it. I the Lord have spoken.

Ezekiel 30:17,19 NIV

[17] The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis will fall by the sword, and the cities themselves will go into captivity. [19] So I will inflict punishment on Egypt, and they will know that I am the Lord.' ”

Ezekiel 30:24-26 NIV

[24] I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a mortally wounded man. [25] I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he brandishes it against Egypt. [26] I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord. ”

** The time appointed for the punishment of the wicked may seem to come slowly, but it will surely come <H83>

Ezekiel 24:14 NIV

[14] “ 'I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent. You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions, declares the Sovereign Lord. ' ”

Zephaniah 1:14-18 NIV

[14] The great day of the Lord is near---near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry. [15] That day will be a day of wrath---a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness--- [16] a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers. [17] “I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like dung. [18] Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath.” In the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.

** We are assured "that all things work together for good, to those who love God." The afflictions of this life, are the faithful corrections of a kind and tender Father. "For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

How consoling the reflection — that all our sufferings are designed to mortify and subdue our corruptions, to wean us from the world, and lead us to a more humble and constant sense of dependence upon God! How ungrateful for a child of God to repine at the dealings of such a tender and faithful Father!

God will give us all that He sees is best for us. And surely we ought to be satisfied with this; for He who sees the end from the beginning, must know much better than we what is for our good. It is our duty to maintain a contented and cheerful spirit in every situation of life. <N151>

Hebrews 12:5-7 NIV

** God continues to exact judgment on people so they will acknowledge Him and His Name will be preserved

Ezekiel 22:16 NIV

[16] When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.' ”

** Adversity and prosperity are divinely balanced against each other with unerring divine skill. In each, respectively, the due proportions are precisely weighed, so lovingly and wisely, that none should say, "It might have been better done!" Christian, I appeal to you: Could it have been better done? Are God's ways unjust? Have they been so to you?

God's ways are always just, His purposes are always wise and loving. How beautiful is His providence! How exquisite is His skill! Grace is poised against temptation; joys are balanced against sorrows. The lights and shadows of experience thus perfected, and perfecting each other.

• Were all prosperity: we would be lifted up in pride.

• Were all adversity: we would faint under the heavy load.

God's ways are just and equal--look back and see. Had times been pleasant with you, and experience been sweet? How surely they were followed by deadness in the soul! Your joy was gone, you knew not why. Ah! but God knew it. It was the adjusting of the scales, that nothing might be out of balance. Has life gone prosperously? Sooner or later, crosses came--some disappointment, something to bring you down, something or other, counter to your will. It was the adjusting of the scales. And just so with health, and other comforts--God keeps the scales perfectly balanced. <M138>

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

[14] When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

** People have opportunity to understand why calamity is upon them, for they will be reminded of their guilt

Ezekiel 21:7 NIV

[7] And when they ask you, 'Why are you groaning? ' you shall say, 'Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.' It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 21:24 NIV

[24] “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'Because you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion, revealing your sins in all that you do---because you have done this, you will be taken captive.

** God got Israel’s attention; He woke them to recognize their sin and its consequences

Ezekiel 21:14-15 NIV

[14] “So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times. It is a sword for slaughter---a sword for great slaughter, closing in on them from every side. [15] So that hearts may melt with fear and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at all their gates. Look! It is forged to strike like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter.

** God knows that most Israelites and unbelieving Gentiles will need to go through the Tribulation to come to a point of repentance

Ezekiel 20:39,42-43 NIV

[39] “ 'As for you, people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you! But afterward you will surely listen to me and no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and idols. [42] Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your ancestors. [43] There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done.

** God does not take pleasure administering consequence for sin, yet He must deal with the wicked

Ezekiel 18:32 NIV

[32] For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

** God’s discipline is to encourage His children to return to more-innocent days; restoration will be by grace, not merit

Ezekiel 16:53-55 NIV

[53] “ 'However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, [54] so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. [55] And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before.

Ezekiel 16:59-60,63 NIV

[59] “ 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. [60] Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. [63] Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord. ' ”

** God does nothing without just cause

Ezekiel 14:23 NIV

[23] You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord. ”

** God motivation to discipline: He checks whether a person’s heart is in tune with His, for His aim is to seize any heart that isn’t

Ezekiel 14:4-5 NIV

[4] Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. [5] I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.'

** It used to be a custom for travelers in Switzerland to bring home clusters of the edelweiss. The flower is not sought because of its beauty or for its fragrance, but in recognition of its hardiness and victoriousness in living and blooming under very difficult conditions. It grows on the Alps and Pyrenees, at lofty altitudes, where almost nothing else lives, and on crags difficult of access, and is among the hardiest of all plants.

Thus the edelweiss becomes the symbol of noble life which…

• endures hardness,

• is victorious amid antagonisms,

• rises superior to obstacles.

The man who has never known hardship, who never has had to practice self-denial or make a personal sacrifice — may be the envy of other men whose lives have been one continual struggle. They may think that if they could have had his easy circumstances, that they could have made a great deal more of their life. But really, their opportunities in life thus far, has been far better than his. Christian character is made in the field of struggle and hardship, not in ways of ease and luxury.

• Hindrances are opportunities.

• Difficulty is a school for character.

Strength is the glory of manhood. Yet it is not easy to be strong, it is easier to be weak and to drift. It is easier for the boy in school not to work hard to get his lessons--but to let them go, and then at the last depend on some other boy to help him through. <M136>

** Jeremiah reminds the reader why his people are suffering — because “we have sinned”

Lamentations 5:15-16 NIV

[15] Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. [16] The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

** Sinning against God is serious; God’s wrath was not spared even against His children whom He loved dearly, for they chose to do evil and thus invoked God’s disciplinary anger

Ezekiel 5:16-17 NIV

[16] When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. [17] I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken. ”

** It grieves God when His children turn their attention away from Him, lusting after idols

Ezekiel 6:9b NIV

[9] …How I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.

** God has three axes! One He uses in PRUNING His trees, that the fruitful branches may bring forth more fruit. The work of this axe is not judgment or destruction--but mercy and blessing. It is the good, the fruitful tree--which feels its keen edge. "Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:2

Then God has another axe, which He uses only in JUDGMENT in cutting down those trees which after all His culture of them, bring forth no fruit. "The axe already lies at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit, will be cut down and thrown into the fire!" Matthew 3:10. The picture is very suggestive. The axe at the tree's root, or raised in the woodman's hand to strike--shows that judgment impends, hangs ready to fall. At any moment, the tree may be cut down! "Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil!" Luke 13:7

The axe of DEATH really lies all the while, at the root of every life. There is not a moment when it is not true, that there is but a step between us and death! Life is all very critical. There is not a moment in any day, on which may not turn all the destinies of eternity. It certainly is an infinitely perilous thing, for an immortal soul to rest an hour with the axe of judgment waiting to strike the blow which will end the day of mercy forever! Only supremest folly can be blind men to such vital interests! <M136>

** It is just for God to make that a desolation, which we make an idol; the day is at hand when God will destroy the idols from professed Christian churches as they were from among the Jews <H83>

Ezekiel 6:11,13-14 NIV

[11] “ 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague. [13] And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak---places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. [14] And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah---wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord. ' ”

** There are 4 types of God’s wrath:

1. Direct wrath - what God did to Sodom & Gomorrah

2. Eschatological wrath - in the Day of our Lord in the end times

3. Eternal wrath - some will face in Hell

4. Abandonment wrath - when God turns people over to their sin <H89>

Romans 1:18-20 NIV

[18] The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, [19] since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. [20] For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Colossians 3:5-6 NIV

[5] Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

** God continues to discipline His people “in due measure” and “not let [us] go entirely unpunished”, ensuring that we reap the consequences of what we sow

Jeremiah 46:27-28 NIV

[27] “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. [28] Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”

** God set Israel apart to demonstrate His power, to reveal His love/character and to provide current-day believers timely perspective, especially regarding the impending final days

Israel is the object of God’s temporary discipline but also a remnant of God’s race that become believers by the end of the Tribulation period; God miraculously preserved His people for 2700 years to fulfill prophecy, even after they were dispersed among 130 nations and Israel was destroyed in 70AD <R171>

Ezekiel 5:5 NIV [Jerusalem is center of all nations]

[5] “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.

Ezekiel 16:32 NIV [Israel portrayed as God’s wayward wife]

[32] “ 'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!

Zechariah 2:8 NIV [Israel is apple of God’s eye]

[8] For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you — for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye

Zechariah 2:12 NIV [Israel’s land is holy]

[12] The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.

** God let Israel know He would punish her for her wicked ways but He would not abandon her, like Replacement Theologists want us to believe

Ezekiel 5:8,13 NIV

[8] “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. [13] “Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.

** The author of Lamentations understands God bringing grief because of Jerusalem’s many sins

Lamentations 1:5 NIV

[5] Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe.

Lamentations 1:8 NIV

[8] Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; she herself groans and turns away.

** Our God is One of unfailing love and compassion; believers need to remember that God does not willingly assign affliction and no one is cast off by the Lord forever

Lamentations 3:31-33 NIV

[31] For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. [32] Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. [33] For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

** The country of Moab did not experience ‘suffering upon suffering’ — similar to wine being sifted as it is poured from one container to another — so her sin was not made conscious through difficulty; the nation therefore settled into its own sin and God’s judgment rested upon her <M130>

Jeremiah 48:11-12 NIV

[11] “Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another---she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged. [12] But days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send men who pour from pitchers, and they will pour her out; they will empty her pitchers and smash her jars.

Jeremiah 48:16-17 NIV

[16] “The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly. [17] Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, 'How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!'

** The image that floats before the poet’s mind is that of a dark thundercloud breaking into a tempest, which overflows Jerusalem’s “perfection of beauty” <C32>

Lamentations 2:1-2 NIV

[1] How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion

with the cloud of his anger ! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. [2] Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.

Lamentations 2:15 NIV

[15] All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?”

** Our Father is the gardener; we are branches under His care. He watches over our lives. The painful afflictions which cut into our very souls, the taking from us of objects that are dear to us, as when the gardener with his sharp knife removes luxuriant branches from the vine — are our Father's prunings! No hand but His, ever holds the knife! We are sure, then, that there is never any careless cutting, any unwise or mistaken pruning, any needless removing of rich branches or growths.

We really need to go no farther than this. A strong, abiding confidence that all the trials, sorrows and losses of our lives are parts of our Father's pruning ought to silence every question, quiet every fear and give peace and restful assurance to our hearts, in all their pain. We cannot know the reason for the painful strokes, but we know that He who holds the pruning-knife is our Father! That is all we need to know. <M136>

John 15:1-2 NIV

** The patience and goodness of God to this remnant group of ancient people was remarkable; he did not even leave them in their rebellion but continued to communicate through His prophet warning them of the sin that brought disaster on them <C34>

Jeremiah 44:4-5 NIV

[4] Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, 'Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!' [5] But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods but were in blatant defiance against God

Jeremiah 44:15-17 NIV

[15] Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present---a large assembly---and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, [16] “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! [17] We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm.

** Ezekiel was devastated, thinking the Lord was going to annihilate the entire remnant of Israel; God revealed that people will suffer what they brought on themselves through sin

Ezekiel 9:8-10 NIV

[8] While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem? ” [9] He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, 'The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.' [10] So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done. ”

** The Lord punished King Jehoiakim for refusing to heed God’s warning, just as God will punish anyone today who chooses to ignore His word

Jeremiah 36:29-31 NIV

[29] Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, 'This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” [30] Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. [31] I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened. ' ”

** God accepted prayers to bring other ungodly people - especially the Babylonians at the time - under His judgment <M130>

Lamentations 1:21-22 NIV

[21] “People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done. May you bring the day you have announced so they may become like me. [22] “Let all their wickedness come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins. My groans are many and my heart is faint.”

Lamentations 3:64-66 NIV

[64] Pay them back what they deserve, Lord, for what their hands have done. [65] Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! [66] Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.

Lamentations 4:21-22 NIV

[21] Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will be drunk and stripped naked. [22] Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion; he will not prolong your exile. But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom, and expose your wickedness.

** Even though they initially inquired through prayer, the remnant Jews really didn’t want to follow God’s counsel because His answer was not what they desired; they were again warned of God’s wrath if they went against His guidance

Jeremiah 42:19-22 NIV

[19] “Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Be sure of this: I warn you today [20] that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, 'Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.' [21] I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. [22] So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”

** Since the Israelites did not follow His command to free the Hebrew slaves, God ‘set them free’ to fall by the sword and die at the hand of their enemies

Jeremiah 34:17-18 NIV

[17] “Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, declares the Lord---'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. [18] Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.

** Why did God choose Saul in light of his later failures? <R1795>

• God gave Israel a king who would do exactly what the people asked

• We need to evaluate our prayers carefully

• Is what we ask what we need and is best for us?

• What Israel should have asked is a king after God's own heart; one who would be responsive to God and keep Israel close to the Lord

1 Samuel 10:19 NIV

[19] But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, 'No, appoint a king over us.' So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”

** God has a ‘red line’ or ‘boiling point’ that invokes His wrath when His people continue in unabated sin; punishment ensues because people need to be reminded of God’s sovereignty!

Jeremiah 44:22-23 NIV

[22] When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. [23] Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”

Jeremiah 44:27-28 NIV

[27] For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed. [28] Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand---mine or theirs.

** God relayed a prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the Egyptians; God made one wicked nation a scourge on another <H83>

Jeremiah 43:8-10 NIV

[8] In Tahpanhes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: [9] “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes. [10] Then say to them, 'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them.

** When the Lord takes the time to rebuke you, to convict you, or to show you that you’re doing something wrong, it isn’t because He hates you. Rather, it’s because He loves you. And that very discipline is a reminder of your relationship with Him. <L120>

Hebrews 12:6 NIV

[6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

** God will bring down the proud and sinful; they will have no secure place to live

Jeremiah 49:16 NIV

[16] The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill. Though you build your nest as high as the eagle's, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 49:18 NIV

[18] As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, along with their neighboring towns,” says the Lord, “so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it.

Jeremiah 49:31 NIV

[31] “Arise and attack a nation at ease, which lives in confidence,” declares the Lord, “a nation that has neither gates nor bars; its people live far from danger.

** God declares what is truth and right, often through prophecy; our world (including the church) increasingly abandons this truth and suffers the consequences

Isaiah 45:19 NIV

[19] I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

** Jeremiah reminded those listening to Hananiah’s prophecy that he is only valid as a prophet if his prophecy comes true

Jeremiah 28:5-9 NIV

[5] Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. [6] He said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord's house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. [7] Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: [8] From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. [9] But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true. ”

** God’s response to Hananiah’s false prophecy was to place Israel and other nations in bondage of Babylon — the very nation Hananiah said would be defeated — and to terminate Hananiah’s life

Jeremiah 28:12-14 NIV

[12] After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: [13] “Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. [14] This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals. ' ”

Jeremiah 28:15-17 NIV

[15] Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. [16] Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.' ” [17] In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

** God’s response to false prophets and reminder for witnesses

Jeremiah 29:21-23 NIV

[21] This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. [22] Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: 'May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.' [23] For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and in my name they have uttered lies---which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:31-32 NIV

[31] “Send this message to all the exiles: 'This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, [32] this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord, because he has preached rebellion against me.' ”

** God’s command is simple: follow and obey God and it will go well for you

Jeremiah 7:23 NIV

[23] I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.

** The Lord warns His people over and over and over again of impending doom because of their chosen sin; detestable sin that did not even enter the Lord’s mind

Jeremiah 19:3-6 NIV

[3] and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. [4] For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods ; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. [5] They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal---something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. [6] So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

** The Lord will punish, without distinction, all the ungodly and unrighteous Jews and Gentiles; they can avoid this vengeance from God by quitting their idolatries and superstitious practices like the Gentile nations <C34>

Jeremiah 10:10-11 NIV

[10] But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath. [11] “Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.' ”

** God is clear why He was punishing His people: the Israelites forsook God by following their evil hearts and not obeying His law

Jeremiah 16:10-13 NIV

[10] “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?' [11] then say to them, 'It is because your ancestors forsook me,' declares the Lord, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. [12] But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. [13] So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'

Jeremiah 17:27 NIV

[27] But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.' ”

** Reasons for God’s judgment remain clear — idolatry, relying on the flesh, dishonesty in amassing wealth <M130>

Jeremiah 17:1-5,11 NIV

[1] “Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. [2] Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. [3] My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country. [4] Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.” [5] This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. [11] Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.

** The reason God punished His people, and continues to do so, is clear: people turned their heart from God to evil

Jeremiah 4:18,22 NIV

[18] “Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!” [22] “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”

** The house of Israel was told it was uncircumcised in the heart at the level with the heathen, and now the Israelites would be reprimanded for the same sin <C32>

Jeremiah 10:1-2 KJV

[1] Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: [2] Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

** God’s mercy was offered to Israel, but Israel rejected it; their rebellion, idolatry and pride must continue to cause their punishment <S192>

Isaiah 65:2-7 NIV

[2] All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations--- [3] a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; [4] who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; [5] who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. [6] “See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps--- [7] both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”

** God’s people had hardened their hearts so much that God’s discipline did not have an effect on them

Jeremiah 5:3-5 NIV

[3] Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. [4] I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. [5] So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.

** On account of her persistent backsliding, God had "sent away” Israel, Judah's sister, and had given her a certificate of divorce. But He had not repudiated Judah, and her children were wrong to suppose themselves altogether cast off.

They had, in fact, by their transgressions (especially their idolatries) wilfully divorced themselves or separated themselves from God; but no sentence had gone forth from him to bar reconciliation and return. The separation, such as it was, between God and his people was caused by their sins and not by any act of His. <B20>

Isaiah 50:1 NIV

[1] This is what the Lord says: “Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Isaiah 3:8 NIV

[8] Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.

Isaiah 49:14 NIV

[14] But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

** God deeply loves His people even though anger drove Him away for a brief moment; God’s promises remain secure with a foundation of unfailing love toward His children — everything material will fall apart around us but His covenant remains secure <B20>

Isaiah 54:7-8 NIV

[7] “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. [8] In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

Isaiah 54:9-10 NIV

[9] “To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. [10] Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Matthew 24:35 NIV

[35] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Isaiah 51:6 NIV

[6] Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.

Isaiah 55:3,7,12 NIV

[3] Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. [7] Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. [12] You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Isaiah 59:21 NIV

[21] “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants---from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

Isaiah 61:8 NIV

[8] “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Isaiah 63:7 NIV

[7] I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us---yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

Ezekiel 16:42 NIV

[42] Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.

** Afflictions tend to purify us. Before some of the vessels of the temple could be used for sacred purposes, they had to be put into the fire.

Just so, before we are prepared for the Master's use, it is needful that we pass through the furnace of affliction.

The human heart, like the soil of the earth, has to be torn up by the ploughshare of tribulation, before it will produce much fruit of holiness. <T204>

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Job 23:10 NIV

[10] But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

** When we align with Christ we are expected to suffer at the hands of those who do not believe — all for our ultimate good to become more Christlike, the will of God and God’s glory

• Our faith is tested by our suffering while God turns our anxious prayers into comfort

• Maintain a joy-filled perspective in all circumstances and look beyond the temporary suffering to the positive result that ultimately awaits

1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. [2] As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

1 Peter 4:3-5 NIV

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do---living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. [4] They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. [5] But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Romans 8:18 NIV

[18] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

** The furnace of affliction! It is God's meeting place with His people. "I have chosen you," says He, "in the furnace of affliction. I will keep you there, until the purifying process is complete; and if need be, in a 'chariot of fire' I will carry you to heaven!"

Some fires are for destruction, but the furnace of affliction is for purification. He, the Refiner, is sitting by the furnace regulating the flames, tempering the heat; not the least filing of the gold but what is precious to Him! The bush is burning with fire, but He is in the middle of it; a living God in a bush; a living Savior in the furnace!

And has this not been the method of His dealing with His redeemed people in every age.

• First, trial — then blessing.

• First, difficulties — then deliverances.

• First, Egyptian plagues, darkness, brick kilns, the Red Sea, forty years of desert privations — then Canaan!

• First, the burning fiery furnace — then the vision of "one like the Son of God!"

• Or, as with Elijah on Carmel, the answer is first by fire — and then by rain.

• First, the fiery trial — then the gentle descent of the Spirit's influences, coming down like "rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth."

Believer! be it yours to ask, "Are my trials sanctified?" Are they making me holier, purer, better, more meek, more gentle, more heavenly-minded, more Savior-like? Seek to "glorify God in the fires." <M129>

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

** Dear Sir,

I received your letter, and dare not say that I am sorry for your fall, nor indeed for any afflictions that God lays on His children; they are tokens of His fatherly love, and needful medicine for us. Rather would I pray that while God keeps you in the furnace--you may be still, and feel your dross and tin being purged away.

The Lord Jesus gives me a dose of this medicine most days; and I am never so well as when I am taking it, though I frequently make a crooked face at it. If your heart is as my heart, it will need many a bitter potion to cleanse and strengthen it! Afflictions have been to me some of my greatest mercies.

No lasting gain do I get, but in a furnace. Comforts of every kind make me either light or lofty, and swell me, though unperceivably, with self-sufficiency. Indeed, so much dross, native and acquired, is found in my heart, that I have constant need of a furnace. Jesus has selected a suitable furnace for me, not a hot and hasty one, which seems likely to harden and consume me--but one with a gentle and lingering heat, which melts my heart gradually, and lets out some of its dross. Though I cannot love the furnace, yet the longer I live, the more I see of its need and its use. A believer seldom walks steadily and brightly, unless he is well-furnaced...

For His sake, I am your servant,

John Berridge, 1761

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

** The time of Isaiah had been tested via Babylonian captivity and then dispersed from her land until 1948; God kept up afflictions to refine His people and prevent His name from being defamed because of the destruction of Israel <M130>

Isaiah 48:10-11 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. [11] For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.

Zechariah 13:1 NIV

[1] “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

Romans 11:25-27 NIV

[25] I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, [26] and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. [27] And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Romans 11:33-36 NIV

[33] Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! [34] “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” [35] “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” [36] For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

** God continues to cause general calamity as a judgment against sin

• This is different from God’s discipline with His children (believers) but God’s response to sin in our fallen world

• There is NOTHING that happens outside of God’s eternal decree including the use of evil/disaster to accomplish His will <P162>

Isaiah 45:6-7 NIV

[6] so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. [7] I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

Amos 3:6-7 NIV

[6] When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? [7] Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV

Job 2:9-10 NIV

[9] His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” [10] He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

** God gets our attention through the discipline He uses to help us straighten our ways

Isaiah 30:30-31 NIV

[30] The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail. [31] The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down.

** Like the rest of Adam's discontented family, I am often grumbling at my griefs, complaining of my afflictions, and on the brink of quarreling at the conduct of Providence itself!

To be without afflictions is impossible here below, where man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Not to feel when afflicted, is a stoical, impious stupidity. But to sink under troubles of any kind, is beneath the character of the Christian. Yet, when I reflect on that eternity of bliss which is before me, on that world of glory of which I am an heir, I wonder that my afflictions are not more.

Is it too much for me to stumble among the 'rough stones of adversity', to have my flesh pricked with the 'thorns of trouble' — who shall so soon walk the golden streets of Heaven, and wear a crown of immortal glory!

Though the whole earth should rise up against me — if Heaven, and the God of Heaven are for me, I am in perfect safety in the midst of all the storms and tempests, whirlwinds and hurricanes which can blow! <M134>

Lamentations 3:1 NIV

I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath.

Romans 8:35-39 NIV

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? [36] As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

** Hezekiah realized the benefit of his struggles for He saw the hand of God at work in his life and praised Him for it!

Isaiah 38:17 NIV

[17] Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Isaiah 38:20 NIV

[20] The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.

** We must be tested to know our strength and confirm what we believe!

Remember the following truths when going through trials, whether they are physical, relational, questioning by Satan, etc; if we do not remember these truths then we fall away as through a crumbling foundation <C30>

Matthew 7:24-26 NIV

[24] “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

• We have been chosen by God’s

1 Peter 1:2 NIV

[2] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

• We have hope/access to a living God while in this life

1 Peter 1:3 NIV

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

• We are being kept safe in God, for nothing is more valuable to God than our faith in Him

1 Peter 1:4-5 NIV

[4] and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, [5] who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV

[16] Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. [17] For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. [18] So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

• We are never alone but always directed by God

• We have an unrelenting joy

1 Peter 1:6-8 NIV

[6] In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [7] These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith---of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire---may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. [8] Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy

• We have an incredible salvation front m an incredible Savior

1 Peter 1:12 NIV

[12] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

** How does God promise to teach and to guide? Not in the way that we would like to go —not in the way of our own choosing — but "the way which you shall go." Often we would decide on pursuing the sunny highway. But God says, 'the rough mountain-track is best for you!' Often we would, like Israel, take the near and smooth road to Canaan. But God's pillar-cloud decides otherwise, and takes us by a circuitous route "by the way of the wilderness." Often we would prefer, like the disciples at sea of Tiberias, the safe path by the seashore, so as to avoid the gathering storm, "for the wind is contrary." But God says, "No!" He constrains us to get into the boat!

The gardener has occasionally to subject his plants to apparently rough treatment — cutting, lopping, mutilating; reducing them to unsightly shapes — before they burst into flower. Summer, however, before long, vindicates the wisdom of his treatment, in its clusters of varied fragrance and beauty. So also, at times, does our heavenly Gardener see fit to use His pruning-knife! But be assured that there is not one superfluous or redundant lopping. We shall understand and acknowledge an infinitely wise necessity for all, when the plant has unfolded itself into the full flower, bathed in the tints and diffusing the fragrance of Heaven. <M129>

Psalm 32:8 NIV

[8] I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

** This is a time of intense suffering and persecution that will make the holocaust seem like a picnic in the park, in comparison. It breaks my heart, that the people of Israel will be sorely tested and 2/3 of the people will meet an untimely end.

There is a story that I have told before about a women's bible study that read Malachi 3 and wondered what and how silver is refined. So they decided to attend a local silversmith that would demonstrate how it was done — as they watched the silversmith do his work, they thought upon the verses and asked “how do you know when the silver is refined?” The silversmith smiled and said, “when I can see my image in it”. That is how Israel will be refined as well.

Note only a third part of the whole nation of Israel will survive and be refined. It is a remnant that our Savior will come and fight for them. Why? Because our Lord said He would when they cry out and state the words He prophesied they would say. <T201>

Zechariah 13:8-9 NIV

[8] In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. [9] This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God. ' ”

Malachi 3:2-4 NIV

[2] But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. [3] He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, [4] and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

** Isaiah is clear that Damascus will be ruined because they turned their back on God

Isaiah 17:10-11 NIV

[10] You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, [11] though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.

Isaiah 17:7-8 NIV

[7] In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. [8] They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.

** Stern warning to the leaders of Israel who lead others astray

Isaiah 9:13-16 NIV

[13] But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the Lord Almighty. [14] So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day; [15] the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail. [16] Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.

** God’s idea of justice centers around righteousness; the world’s practice of corrupt justice (centered on lies) will be exposed in contrast

Isaiah 28:17-19 NIV

Isaiah 5:5 NIV

[5] Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

** The discipline God issued to Israel had not changed their behavior; the result was their desolation but God did not completely destroy them for He left some survivors with the intent of restoration

Isaiah 1:5-7 NIV

[5] Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. [6] From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness---only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil. [7] Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

Isaiah 1:24-26 NIV

[24] Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. [25] I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. [26] I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City. ”

Isaiah 1:9 NIV

[9] Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

** God notices our choices and behavior, which is often at the expense of investing in our relationship with Him and performing His deeds; God does not allow this behavior to continue

Isaiah 5:11-15 NIV

[11] Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. [12] They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.

Isaiah 5:20-23 NIV

[20] Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. [21] Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. [22] Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, [23] who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.

Isaiah 5:13-15,25 NIV

[13] Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; those of high rank will die of hunger and the common people will be parched with thirst. [14] Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. [15] So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. [25] Therefore the Lord's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

** I can truly say of everything I have ever tasted in this world of God's mercy — and my path has been remarkably strewn with divine lovingkindness — I feel more grateful to God for the bodily pain I have suffered, and for all the trials of diverse sorts I have endured, than I do for anything else.

I am sure I have derived more real benefit, and permanent strength and growth in grace and every precious thing from the furnace of suffering, than I have ever derived from prosperity.

I know not how to quite express my meaning, but even depression of spirit and deep sadness have a particular charm within them, which laughter in vain may emulate.

Ponder and consider the much gratitude you owe to God for His chastening rod. Dwell much in your heart upon what God evidently regards as one of His distinguishing blessings. Do not lightly pass over, what God would have you consider. Count the cross and the rod to be doubly worthy of your deepest thought.

Remember that whenever you are chastened, you are not chastened as a slave master smites his victim, nor as a judge orders the criminal to be lashed; but as a tender father chastens his son.. Your chastisement is a sign of sonship, it is a token of love! It is intended for your good.

Accept it, therefore, in the spirit of sonship, and "Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when you are corrected by Him."

• It is the Lord your God who chastens you!

• If He were not your God, He might let you alone!

• If He had not chosen you to be His own, He would not take such care of you!

• If He had not given Himself to be your treasure, He might not be so diligent in weaning you from all other treasures!

But because you are His, He will withdraw your love away from this poor world.

• Perhaps He will take one child after another from you, that all the love that was lavished on the children might flow towards Himself.

• Perhaps He will leave you a widow, that the love that ran in the channel of a husband may run altogether to Himself.

• Perhaps he will take away your riches, that the consolation you derived from them may be all derived from Him.

• Perhaps He will smite you, and then lay you on His own bosom, faint and helpless, that you may derive a strength and a joy from close and near fellowship with Himself, which you would never have had if it had not been that these other joys were removed.

Bless God for your chastenings! Let the sweetest note of your music be to Him who, as a loving father, chastens His children for their good. <S185>

Psalm 119:71 NIV

[71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Micah 6:9 NIV

[9] Listen! The Lord is calling to the city---and to fear your name is wisdom---“Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

Deuteronomy 8:5 NIV

[5] Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

** When God turns away His anger from us, we can turn to Him for strength, find rest for our souls, and praise His name!

Isaiah 12:1-2 NIV

[1] In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. [2] Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. ”

Isaiah 12:3 NIV

[3] With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Isaiah 12:4-6 NIV

[4] In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. [5] Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. [6] Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. ”

** The Lord disciplines and allows affliction to help us to grow and strengthen us as He sees fit.

Psalm 119:67 NIV

[67] Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

Psalm 119:71 NIV

[71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119:75 NIV

[75] I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

** In truly sanctified afflictions we have a striking solution of Samson's riddle. How often, and how remarkably is it explained and fulfilled in the experience of the saints in times of distress!

"Out of the eater, came something to eat.

Out of the strong, came something sweet."

1. By afflictions we gain much knowledge of ourselves. When corrupt nature is vexed, it shows its real self. As in tempestuous weather, the chinks and openings in the roofs of our houses are most sensibly perceived — so in sharp afflictions we learn our own defects, weaknesses and sins.

2. Afflictions tend to wean us from the world. When in uninterrupted health and prosperity, we are apt to be too much pleased with our present condition, and to lose sight of the crown of glory and the everlasting mansions above — the loud alarm of affliction rouses us from the enchanting delusion! The violence of a tempest impels the mariner to long the more earnestly for the haven of rest.

3. Afflictions serve to quicken our affections to the Lord Jesus Christ. While in ease and tranquillity, a spirit of lethargy too often pervades the mind in regard to Christ and the blessings of His salvation. But, when the tides of distress and sorrow come rolling in upon us, we are willing, we are glad to seek rest in Him who is our only hope and Savior in times of trouble. <F62>

Judges 14:14 NIV

[14] He replied, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” For three days they could not give the answer.

Psalm 119:67,71-72 NIV

[67] Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. [71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. [72] The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

** At the same time as God allowing affliction, He offers His comfort to those who follow and take delight in His law!

Psalm 119:76-77 NIV

[76] May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant. [77] Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.

Psalm 119:109-110 NIV

[109] Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. [110] The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.

** David’s affliction debilitated him yet he continued to abide by God’s law and trust in God as his Savior

Psalm 119:83-84,87 NIV

[83] Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees. [84] How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors? [87] They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.

Psalm 119:88 NIV

[88] In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.

Psalm 119:92-93 NIV

[92] If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. [93] I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.

Psalm 119:109-110 NIV

[109] Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. [110] The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.

Psalm 119:116-117 NIV

[116] Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. [117] Uphold me, and I will be delivered; I will always have regard for your decrees.

** Nothing stops the current of His blessings so much as pride. He resists the proud! He is at war with them. A futile war! A proud sinner fighting against a holy God! Who do you think will conquer?

Oh, beware of all high thoughts of yourself and your doings. Take heed of admiring your own greatness or goodness. Self-delight is a very pleasing sin, but more odious to a jealous God than the gross sins of the flesh. I am sure that the more we love Him, the less we shall admire ourselves.

Proverbs 8:13 NIV

[13] To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Proverbs 16:5 NIV

[5] The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

** Since even the wisest of God’s children are subject to sin, there is necessity of God’s fatherly discipline to increase wisdom and blessing; such correction should not be resisted <M130>

Proverbs 3:11-12 NIV

[11] My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, [12] because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

** Wisdom and prudence dwell together, providing sound counsel and judgment

Proverbs 8:12,14 NIV

[12] “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. [14] Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power.

Proverbs 8:20 NIV

[20] I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice

** Mockers do not want to be corrected and will insult you, while the wise see correction as an opportunity to grow

Proverbs 9:7-9 NIV

[7] Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. [8] Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. [9] Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

Proverbs 12:1 NIV

[1] Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,

but whoever hates correction is stupid.

Proverbs 12:15 NIV

[15] The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

Proverbs 13:16 NIV

[16] All who are prudent act with knowledge, but fools expose their folly.

Proverbs 14:6 NIV

[6] The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.

Proverbs 15:10,12 NIV

[10] Stern discipline awaits anyone who leaves the path; the one who hates correction will die. [12] Mockers resent correction, so they avoid the wise.

Revelation 3:19 NIV

[19] Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Proverbs 15:31-32 NIV

[31] Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise. [32] Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.

Proverbs 21:11 NIV

[11] When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.

Proverbs 21:24 NIV

[24] The proud and arrogant person---“Mocker” is his name---behaves with insolent fury.

Proverbs 22:10 NIV

[10] Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.

Proverbs 29:8 NIV

[8] Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger.

** Only God can take the wrath (evil) of man and make it to glorify Him, for God will never allow Satan to do anything unless it serves His purpose for His kingdom and glory <F60>

Psalm 76:10 NIV

[10] Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.

Genesis 50:19-20 NIV

[19] But Joseph said to them, “Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? [20] You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

** Job’s conflict was with God and questioned why the wicked get away with their conduct, and then wondered why he should serve and pray to God

• God often gives wealth, health and long life to the wicked

• Job tried to show that if the wicked can endure unscathed, then a righteous man like Job can experience these troubles

• Job was refuting his friend’s argument

Job 21:7-14 NIV

[7] Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? [8] They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes. [9] Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them. [10] Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry. [11] They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about. [12] They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe. [13] They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. [14] Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.

** In the day of adversity, you should consider from whose hand it has been sent to you! It comes direct from the hand of God!

Intermediate agencies may have been employed in inflicting it:

• a cherished family member may have been the messenger of disease;

• a treacherous friend may have been the cause of bankruptcy;

• an avowed enemy may have been the author of reproach and shame;

• Satan himself may have been allowed to smite you!

But through whatever secondary agency it may have been conveyed, adversity comes from God's hand! <B25>

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

[14] When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

Isaiah 45:7 NIV

[7] I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

Lamentations 3:38 NIV

[38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Job 2:10 NIV

[10] He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job 5:17-18 NIV

[17] “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. [18] For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.

Deuteronomy 32:39 NIV

[39] “See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.

Amos 3:6 NIV

[6] When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

** Christ's knowledge is as limitless as His power, for He knows what will take place and what His people will need a thousand years to come. Nothing can surprise, or baffle, or disappoint Him <T204>

• At a single glance, He looks through immensity and eternity, and takes in at one view all beings and events

• His understanding is boundless

• He knows the end from the beginning

• He knows all things in their origin, connections, tendencies, and consequences

• Everything that has occurred in the universe

• Everything that is now taking place, and

• Everything that will take place – is mapped out before His omniscient eye in perfect transparency

Isaiah 40:28 NIV

[28] Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Psalm 147:5 NIV

[5] Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

1 John 3:20 NIV

[20] If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Hebrews 4:13 NIV

[13] Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

** The Lord God heard the prayers of those who went before us and sometimes answered in miraculous ways; God continues to hear our prayers today

Psalm 99:6-8 NIV

[6] Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the Lord and he answered them. [7] He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them. [8] Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.

** Job understands he doesn’t ‘hold a candle’ against the power, mind and justice of God

Job 40:2-5 NIV

[2] “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” [3] Then Job answered the Lord: [4] “I am unworthy---how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. [5] I spoke once, but I have no answer---twice, but I will say no more.”

Job 40:6-12 NIV

[6] Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: [7] “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. [8] “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? [9] Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like his? [10] Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. [11] Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, [12] look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.

** My dear sister,

It is but a little way and a short time, and we shall be at our eternal home! We ought every moment to be pressing forward.

You will have afflictions and troubles along the way, and so have all God's children. You have them because you need them! You could not grow in grace without them. How could you take up your cross and deny yourself daily--if you did not have daily troubles?

It is the exercise of faith to bear them, and to believe that God deals them out by number, weight, and measure. You have not one pain more than you stand in need of!

And further, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." If we do but attain to this glory, it signifies very little by what way we come to the attainment of it.

Think on these things, and through the blessing of God, they may help to make you see and feel that the way of suffering is the royal way to the kingdom.

We shall soon meet in our Father's Kingdom, and inherit all that Jesus purchased for us!

I commend you to God and to the riches of His grace, praying Him to do for you exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think.

"Your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus" Revelation 1:9

I remain, your loving brother,

William Romaine <R172>

John 16:33 NIV

[33] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

** God will not allow Satan to do anything if it is not for God’s glory and for our good, for God cannot work through us until He works in us!

Satan’s goal is to have us doubt this and question the love of God; therefore it is imperative we understand and do not doubt God so when difficulties come we DON’T ask “God, why are you doing this to me?” but rather ASK “God, what are you trying to show me?” <F60>

The reasons God allows difficulties:

1. To get our attention & focus on Him because we tend to focus on Him more during difficult times (Ecc 7:14)

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

[14] When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

2. To help us understand that nothing matters in this world

3. God may be protecting you from a bigger trial, like Jesus deliberately sending the disciples into the storm and showing them He will get them through this! (Matt 14:22-32)

Matthew 14:22-24,26-32 NIV

[22] Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. [23] After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, [24] and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. [26] When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It's a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. [27] But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.” [28] “Lord, if it's you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” [29] “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. [30] But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” [31] Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” [32] And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

4. God may preparing you for what He wants to do through you, such as God did with Joseph for 17 years

5. God may be humbling you so you will completely depend on Him, like the thorn in the flesh God permitted with Paul so he could boast of God in his weakness (2 Cor 12:7-10)

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

[7] or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. [8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. [9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. [10] That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

6. God may be using the comfort you received from Him through pain & suffering so you can comfort others (2 Cor 1:3-7)

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NIV

[3] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. [5] For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. [6] If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. [7] And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

7. God may want to mature you so you will develop perseverance (James 1:2-4)

James 1:2-4 NIV

[2] Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, [3] because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. [4] Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

8. God may be allowing the hard times to show you are helpless and need to cry to Him for help (2 Chron 20:10-15)

2 Chronicles 20:10-15 NIV

[10] “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. [11] See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. [12] Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. ” [13] All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord. [14] Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. [15] He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.

** Job realized that God allowed his misery that weighs heavy on him

Job 6:2-4 NIV

[2] “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! [3] It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas---no wonder my words have been impetuous. [4] The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God's terrors are marshaled against me.

** Eliphaz, friend of Job, assumed he was suffering because of some grievous sin <M130>

• Eliphaz thought a moral order was at play, oversimplifying God’s pattern of retribution with simple logic

• The simple axiom ‘the righteous will prosper and the wicked will suffer’ does not always hold up in the human experience

• Eliphaz was partially right but not everything we reap in life is the result of something we have sown

Job 4:5-8 NIV

[5] But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. [6] Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope? [7] “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? [8] As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.

Galatians 6:7-9 NIV

[7] Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. [8] Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. [9] Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

1 Peter 3:12 NIV

[12] For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

John 9:1-3 NIV

[1] As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. [2] His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [3] “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

** We have seen 23 prophecies fulfilled @ 100% accuracy in our day alone! <S188>

ISRAEL’S SURVIVAL

Regardless of what nation Jews settle, they remain true to their faith and are not assimilated

1. God making a great nation from Abraham (Gen 12:1-3) 4200 years ago

2. Descendants through Abraham (meaning father of a multitude) and Sarah

3. Abraham’s name will be great, and it still is recognized 4200 years later by those in Judaism, Christianity and the Islam faiths

4. Southern kingdom of Judah will be taken captive for 70 years in Babylon (Jeremiah 31:35-37); this was the first time ever a nation was taken captive and brought back, but it will happen again just before the last days

5. Israel will continue to exist in the end times before Christ returns (Daniel 12:1) where the Jews will be rescued

6. Jesus said the Jews would be keeping the Sabbath into the last days

GOD DOES TO NATIONS AS THEY DO TO ISRAEL

1-5. Five nations tried to wipe out Israel throughout the Old Testament and were wiped out as a result; assimilated into Roman Empire... Amalekites, Philistines, Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites

6. Scripture says Egypt will continue to exist in end times (Isaiah 19)

ISRAEL WILL RETURN TO ITS ANCIENT HOMELAND IN THE LAST DAYS

1. Israelites were scattered across many nations but returned in 1948; to occur just before the kingdom of God comes to earth (Ezekiel 38:8)

2. Returned from many nations across the four corners of the earth (Lev 26, Deut 24, Deut 29-39)

3. To a land that is desolate from wars

4. Time of return from a second exile (Isaiah 11:11-12... written before the first exile happened!

5. Once they are back, they will never again be uprooted (Amos 9:14-15); Israel went from desolation to the 8th most powerful nation in the world in 70 years since it returned!

The same God who fulfilled these promises for the nation of Israel throughout Scripture, also gives us promises today — to never leave us, forsake us, be with us to the end of the age, take our cares upon Him, etc.

** Jehoshaphat was rebuked because of his alliance with God’s enemy, Ahab, yet there was mercy mingled with wrath because of the king’s concern personally and nationally for the true worship of God <M130>

Jehoshaphat later made another alliance that went against trusting in the Lord

2 Chronicles 19:1-3 NIV

[1] When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, [2] Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you. [3] There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God. ”

1 Kings 22:2 NIV

[2] But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel.

2 Chronicles 20:35-37 NIV

[35] Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. [36] He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, [37] Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.

** The Lord’s wrath grew as His people refused to turn to Him; God let the temple and Jerusalem fall into the hands of the Babylonians

2 Chronicles 36:17-20 NIV

[17] He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. [18] He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord's temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. [19] They set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. [20] He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

** [This excerpt was written in 1755 but could have been written today!]

You hear the conversation of reasonable creatures, of candidates for eternity--engrossed by trifles, or vainly wasted on the affairs of time! These are their important subjects of conversation, even at the threshold of the house of God!

You see swarms of prayerless families all over our land! You see ignorant, wicked children, unrestrained and untaught by those to whom God and nature have entrusted their souls!

You see the holy religion of Jesus--abused, neglected, disobeyed, and dishonored by its professors!

You see crowds of professed believers, who are in reality, practical atheists! These nominal Christians are really unholy heathens! They are abandoned slaves of sin--who yet pretend to be the servants of the holy Jesus!

You see multitudes lying in a deep sleep in sin all around us! You see them eager in the pursuits of the vanities of time--but stupidly unconcerned about the important realities of the eternal world just before them! So few are concerned what shall become of them--when all their connections with earth and flesh must be broken, and they must take their flight into strange, unknown regions! So few lamenting their sins! So few crying for mercy and a new heart! So few flying to Jesus! <D43>

Amos 3:6 NIV

[6] When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

** Your frequent afflictions are His sweet lessons. It is the proper work of the grace of Jesus to humble the proud sinner, to make him and to keep him sensible of his needs, convinced always that he has not any good of his own and cannot possibly of himself obtain any--but what he must be receiving every moment out of the fullness of Jesus.

All providences, sicknesses, losses, successes--are only so far blessings, as they lead us more out of ourselves, into the fullness of Jesus.

The Lord having appointed you for His heavenly kingdom, has also appointed all the steps which are to lead you there. Your every affliction is in the covenant. Your sicknesses, your failings, your disappointments--there is not one thing that thwarts your will, that is not in God's will. Nothing can befall you but what is...

• divinely ordered,

• contrived for you by infinite wisdom,

• brought upon you by infinite love!

Oh, for eyes to see, for a heart to receive all God's dealings with you in this covenant view. How sweet would be your many trials, if you found them all appointed and managed for you by the best of friends! Learn to receive them thus. <R172>

** What if by God's chastening rod...

• your wandering, gadding heart shall be whipped home to God

• your neglected duties are revived

• your decayed communion with God is restored

• a spiritual, heavenly frame of heart is recovered?

Surely you will bless that merciful hand which removed these obstructions, and adore the Divine wisdom and goodness, that by such an affliction as this, He has recovered you to Himself. Now you can pray more constantly, more spiritually, more affectionately than before. O blessed rod, which buds and blossoms with such fruits as these! Let this be written among your best mercies, for you shall have cause to adore and bless God eternally for this beneficial affliction. <F63>

Micah 6:9 NIV

[9] Listen! The Lord is calling to the city---and to fear your name is wisdom---“Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

** The Israelites recognized God who disciplines His children who rebel against Him

Nehemiah 9:30 NIV

[30] For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

Nehemiah 9:36-37 NIV

[36] “But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. [37] Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.

** Dear friend, [God] loves you more than you can possibly love yourself; and He will send you nothing but what is for your real and best interest, and He will let you find it so. His love is almighty, and it is unchangeable. What can He not do, what will He not do, when His heart is set upon blessing His people!

He does all things well! Yes, He intends to do better for you, far better than you can even imagine! It is a common thing with Him to bring spiritual good out of temporal evil. He can extract pleasure out of pain! (Letter from William Romaine) <R172>

** Judah experienced captivity because of the sins of the former King Manasseh, including his shedding of innocent blood; God was NOT willing to forgive in this instance

2 Kings 24:2-4 NIV

[2] The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. [3] Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord's command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, [4] including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

2 Kings 24:13-14 NIV

[13] As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. [14] He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans---a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

** Why does God allow evil and perilous times? To bring people to Him. He did this with Israel time and again over the centuries and He still does this today. It isn’t surprising people turn to the clarity of the Bible in times of uncertainty; people looking for hope as they try to connect with God. That’s why we see Bible sales up 149% and Internet searches for “prayer” during today’s COVID19 crisis. <C35> (Apr 2020)

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

[14] if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

** Solomon sums it up this way: we need to keep in mind during times of prosperity and times of adversity that nothing is certain in this life; tomorrow is not guaranteed so put your hope in Christ alone <F60>

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

[14] When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

James 4:13-15 NIV

[13] Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” [14] Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. [15] Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.”

** God sent a man to warn Jeroboam against having the altar; when Jeroboam tried to stop this man his hand shrivelled and the altar split apart as the man of God proclaimed

1 Kings 13:2-5 NIV

[2] By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'” [3] That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.” [4] When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. [5] Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.

** Standing in the gap in football or a military battle shows alignment with the will of the coach, or commander. Standing in the gap is a form of intercession. Whether it be by prayer or by action or, preferably, both, when we stand in the gap for the land before the Lord, it shows the Lord that we care about the things that he cares about. When our will and God's will align, God is then moved of the importance that we are interceding and working toward His will being accomplished. When our intercession and God's will align, a spiritual force is often released. <W212>

Isaiah 63:5 NIV

[5] I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me.

Ezekiel 22:29-31 NIV

[29] The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice. [30] “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. [31] So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. ”

I am sure I have derived more real benefit, and permanent strength, and growth in grace, and every precious thing--from the furnace of suffering, than I have ever derived from prosperity.

I know not how to quite express my meaning, but even depression of spirit and deep sadness have a particular charm within them, which laughter in vain may emulate.

Accept it, therefore, in the spirit of sonship, and "Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when you are corrected by Him."

It is the Lord your God who chastens you!

If He were not your God, He might let you alone!

If He had not chosen you to be His own, He would not take such care of you!

If He had not given Himself to be your treasure, He might not be so diligent in weaning you from all other treasures!

But because you are His, He will withdraw your love away from this poor world.

Perhaps He will take one child after another from you, that all the love that was lavished on the children might flow towards Himself.

Perhaps He will leave you a widow, that the love that ran in the channel of a husband may run altogether to Himself.

Perhaps he will take away your riches, that the consolation you derived from them may be all derived from Him.

Perhaps He will smite you, and then lay you on His own bosom, faint and helpless, that you may derive a strength and a joy from close and near fellowship with Himself, which you would never have had if it had not been that these other joys were removed.

Bless God for your chastenings!

Let the sweetest note of your music be to Him who, as a loving father, chastens His children for their good. <S185>

Psalm 119:71 NIV

[71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Micah 6:9 NIV

[9] Listen! The Lord is calling to the city---and to fear your name is wisdom---“Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

Deuteronomy 8:5 NIV

[5] Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

[10] See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

** God demonstrated the difference between eternal consequence and temporal punishment when He forgave David's sin yet took away his son born to him by murderous means

2 Samuel 12:13-14 NIV

[13] Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. [14] But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

** The Lord was clear about the repercussions if the Israelites disobeyed Him

• God renewed His promise to Solomon 25 years into his 40 year reign, but gave a warning no to turn away from Him <R1795>

• If the people turned from God, He would remove Himself from the temple and cut them off from the land

• And, ultimately, other nations would know the reason for the Israelites distress

1 Kings 9:6-9 NIV

[6] “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, [7] then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. [8] This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' [9] People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them---that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.' ”

** The Lord punished David and Israel with a three day plague for David taking a census of the number of men in the army and not trusting God

2 Samuel 24:10-15 NIV

[10] David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing. ” [11] Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: [12] “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ” [13] So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.” [14] David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” [15] So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

** David was willing to accept any punishment God had for him because of his sin with Bathsheba, hoping God would eventually replace the curses for blessings

2 Samuel 16:5-6 NIV

[5] As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. [6] He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left.

2 Samuel 16:9,11-12 NIV

[9] Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.” [11] David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. [12] It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today. ”

** God's love and care for His children was revealed when He communicated to David; as a human father should discipline his son, so the Lord would discipline if the intermediary seed (everyone in the line of David except Christ) committed iniquity <M130>

2 Samuel 7:14 NIV

[14] I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

[21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

** Do we want our freedom and liberty or not? We can’t have it both ways, namely unchecked freedom. “God has a limit to His Holy patience. He gives men the right to choose, but there comes a time, that liberty produces another product of that liberty....JUSTICE!! Without liberty there is no justice. To make good choices based on God's law and His commandments produces blessings, but to do evil in the sight of God according to His giving men the right to liberty, there comes a time when justice will be enacted. It is sure as the sun will shine tomorrow. My friend, justice is coming.” <T201>

** History proves the words spoken to Moses regarding the scattering of Israelites because they forsook the Lord

Deuteronomy 4:27-28 NIV

[27] The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. [28] There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

** Why then need I worry or tremble?

For that great, loving, powerful Hand keeps all the events of my life sealed and secure within its almighty clasp!

• Only He, my Maker and my Master, can permit them to be revealed to me as His will for me

• What a compassionate, gracious arrangement

• If we fully believed we can be kept in perfect peace, we would be absolutely devoid of the worry which corrodes and chafes the daily life of so many professing Christians

Not one or two important epochs of my history only -- but everything that concerns me:

• Joys that I had not expected

• Sorrows that must have crushed me, if they could have been anticipated

• Sufferings which might have terrified me by their grimness, had I looked upon them

• Surprises which infinite love had prepared for me

• Services of which I could not have imagined myself capable -- all lay in that mighty Hand, as the purposes of God's eternal will for me!

But, as they have developed gradually and silently -- how great has been the love which appeared enwrapping and enfolding each one:

• Has not the grief been measured--while the gladness has far more abounded?

• Have not the comforts and consolations--exceeded the crosses and afflictions?

• Have not all things been so arranged, and ordered, and undertaken, and worked out on our behalf -- that we can but marvel at the goodness and wisdom of God, in meting out from that dear Hand of His, all the 'times' that have passed over us?

You agree with me in all this, do you not, dear reader?

• Then I beg you to apply it to your present circumstances, however dark or difficult they may be

• They have come directly from your Father's Hand to you, and they are His dear will for you! <S185>

Psalm 31:15 NIV

[15] My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.

Isaiah 26:3 NIV

[3] You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

** Affliction does not rise out of the dust or come to us by chance; it is the Lord who sends affliction, and we should own and reverence His hand in it

Let the people of God comfort themselves at all times by the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Amidst whatever befalls them, they should rest quietly and submissively in the bosom of God, considering that whatever comes to pass proceeds from the decree of their gracious Friend and reconciled Father, who knows what is best for them, and will make all things work together for their good.

O what a sweet and pleasant life you would have under the heaviest pressures of affliction, and what heavenly serenity and tranquility of mind you would enjoy--if you would cheerfully acquiesce in the good will and pleasure of God, and embrace every dispensation, however sharp it may be, because it is determined and appointed for you by the eternal counsel of His will!

See here the evil of murmuring and complaining at our lot in the world. How apt are you to quarrel with God, as if He were in the wrong when His dealings with you, and not according to your own desires and wishes!

You demand a reason, and call God to an account: "Why am I thus? Why so much afflicted and distressed? Why so long afflicted? Why such a severe affliction rather than a lighter one? Why am I so poor, needy and afflicted?"

Thus your hearts rise up against God. But you should remember that this is to defame the counsels of infinite wisdom, as if God had not ordered your affairs wisely enough in His eternal counsel. <B22>

Our attitude should be that of Job's, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:21

1 Samuel 2:6-8a NIV

[6] “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. [7] The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. [8] He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.

** The most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the Cross. If ever a person had room to complain for injustice it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God!

If we stagger at the wrath of God, then let us stagger at the Cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. <S193>

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

[21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

** If we had no idols in children, friends, wealth or ourselves--we would not need half the trials we have! Foolish idols, make rods for foolish backs!

I bear a willing witness that I owe more to God's fire, and hammer, and file than to anything else. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything profitable, except through God's rod.

There are blessed and favored exceptions, but most of us need the rod, for we do not seem to learn obedience except through the chastening of the Lord! <S185>

** The Lord used the surrounding nations to test whether Israel would turn back and obey Him; the Lord continues to use difficult circumstances to test our allegiance to Him today

Judges 2:20-23 NIV

[20] Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, [21] I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. [22] I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” [23] The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

Judges 3:3-4 NIV

[3] the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. [4] They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

** God disciplines us for our good! by John Fawcett <F62>

"We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope." Romans 5:3-4

All the afflictions of God's people are designed, under His gracious management--to test, to make manifest, and to exercise, those graces and virtues which He has implanted in them. Though afflictions in themselves are not joyous but grievous, nevertheless they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness in those who are exercised thereby.

Afflictions serve to quicken the spirit of devotion in us, and to rouse us from that formality and indifference which frequently attend a long course of ease and prosperity. We are constrained to seek God with sincerity and fervor when His chastening hand is upon us, since we then feel our absolute need of that help and deliverance which He alone can give us.

Afflictions serve most effectually to convince us of the vanity of all that this world can afford, to remind us that this poor world is not our rest, and to stir up desires and hopes for our everlasting home.

Afflictions produce in us a spirit of sympathy towards our companions in tribulation.

Afflictions give occasion for the exercise of patience, meekness, submission, and resignation. Were it not for the wholesome and necessary discipline of affliction, these excellent virtues would lie dormant.

Afflictions serve to convince us more deeply of our own weakness and insufficiency, and to endear the person, the grace, the promises, and the salvation of our Redeemer, more and more to our hearts. Thus we are taught to esteem His very chastisements as precious on account of the benefits we derive from them.

Afflictions are not to punish, but to purify the believing soul.

They are not sent in wrath, but in mercy.

Amidst the distresses and miseries of life--it is a felicity to belong to Christ, without whose appointment, no evil can befall us! He always sends afflictions for our good; and knows by experience, what it is to suffer them. His kind hand will speedily put an end to all the pains we feel, when we have derived from them all the good which He intends to do for us, by them.

Hebrews 12:10 NIV

[10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.

** God tests us to determine where we stand with Him

Psalm 81:7b NIV

[7] In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

** The Lord desires to bless us but will let us go our own way when we refuse to follow Him

Psalm 81:13-16 NIV

[13] “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, [14] how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! [15] Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. [16] But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Psalm 81:11-12 NIV

[11] “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. [12] So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

** God has a purpose for trials and discipline — to bring our focus onto Him as our Helper in time of need

Psalm 66:10-12 NIV

[10] For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. [11] You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. [12] You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.

Psalm 66:16-17 NIV

[16] Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. [17] I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.

** I have reason to praise Him for my trials, for most probably I would have been ruined without them! <N150>

** God issued serious consequences for those living in sin, wanting them to be an example so others would avoid the same fate

• Discipline is needed when guiding others

• Modern history shows how vulnerable people are to cults

• If anyone incites us to abandon the Lord for a cult, we will ‘not listen to his words’, for it is the Lord your God you must follow and Him you must revere <R1795>

• Severe discipline was not only a consequence for the evil doer but to preserve the community

• Paul must have had this text in mind when he instructed the church in Corinth with a similar command <M130>

Deuteronomy 13:10-11 NIV

[10] Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. [11] Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

1 Corinthians 5:13 NIV

[13] God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

** Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” He was right, but we tend to disbelieve him. We live in a day when many Christians, even Christian leaders, shrug off serious sin by saying, “We’re under grace.” If you preach against sin and for holiness, you’re labeled as an unloving, judgmental and legalistic. Concepts such as God being angry with sin or sinners and inflicting consequences for sin are viewed as outmoded. “It won’t reach the baby boomers,” we’re told. But R. W. Dale was on target when he said, “It is partly because sin does not provoke our own wrath, that we do not believe that sin provokes the wrath of God.”

Scripture is clear: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7-8). The principle applies to those under God’s grace.

In David’s life, we see this principle as David’s infant son, conceived through David and Bathsheba’s adultery, died. The Bible does not drop the subject so quickly despite the negative consequences. Second Samuel 13-19 is an account of David’s reaping what he had sown. This sad picture of David’s grief and misery is a “severe mercy” from the Lord (to use C. S. Lewis’ term), intended to impress on us the principle of sowing and reaping, so that we will fear the Lord and hate and avoid the sin which would destroy us. The principle taught here is that: in grace, God forgives all our sin, but He does not remove all the consequences of it.

It’s crucial to understand this because it affects both our relationship with God and with one another. If we don’t understand how God deals with us, we will grow angry and withdraw from Him when He disciplines us. And if we don’t understand how God deals with us, we can’t relate properly to one another, since God’s forgiveness and love are the models for us in our relationships. <B19>

Ephesians 4:32-5:2 NIV

[32] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. [1] Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children [2] and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

** The Lord tests us for specific reasons as any loving father would discipline his child: to grow in our relationship with Him, to test what is in our heart, so God can provide for us as needed

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 NIV

[2] Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. [3] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 8:5 NIV

[5] Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

** God is now punishing me for my sins! by Arthur Pink <P161>

When the believer is smarting under the rod let him not say, "God is now punishing me for my sins!" That can never be. That is most dishonoring to the blood of Christ. God is correcting you in love, not smiting in wrath. Nor should the Christian regard the chastening of the Lord as a sort of necessary evil to which he must bow as submissively as possible. No, it proceeds from God's goodness and faithfulness, and is one of the greatest blessings for which we have to thank Him.

Chastisement evidences our Divine sonship. The father of a family does not concern himself with those on the outside--but those within he guides and disciplines to make them conform to his will. Chastisement is designed for our good, to promote our highest interests. Look beyond the rod, to the all-wise hand that wields it!

Let us not conclude when we see a fellow-Christian under the rod of God, that he is necessarily being taken to task for his sins.

Oftentimes God's chastenings are corrective. They are sent to empty us of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. They are given to reveal to us hidden transgressions, and to teach us the plague of our own hearts.

Or again, chastisements are sent to strengthen our faith, to raise us to higher levels of Christian experience, and to bring us into a condition of usefulness.

Still again, divine chastisement is sent as a preventative, to hinder pride, to save us from being unduly elated over success in God's service.

There is a threefold distinction between divine punishment and divine chastisement:

First, the character in which God acts.

In divine punishment, God acts as a Judge.

In divine chastisement, God acts as a Father.

The second distinction lies in the recipients of each.

The objects of divine punishment, are His enemies.

The objects of divine chastisement, are His children.

A third distinction is seen in the design of each.

Divine punishment is retributive

Divine chastisement is remedial.

Divine punishment flows from His anger

Divine chastisement flows from His love.

"No chastening seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

** God issues just punishment for people's sin and is fully aware of its future consequences

Genesis 15:13-14,16 NIV

[13] Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. [14] But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. [16] In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

** As punishment for their rebellion and unbelief, God forbade the Israelites over 20 years of age to enter the Promised Land for 40 years (a year for each day they explored the new land)

Specifically, the current generation would die and next generation would suffer for their parent's sin, while those men who explored the land and came back with a bad report died of a plague immediately; God makes it clear that we will "know what it is like to have [God] against [those who rebel]"

Numbers 14:26-31 NIV

[26] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: [27] “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. [28] So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: [29] In this wilderness your bodies will fall---every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. [30] Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. [31] As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

Numbers 14:32-35 NIV

[32] But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. [33] Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. [34] For forty years---one year for each of the forty days you explored the land---you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ [35] I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die. ”

Numbers 14:36-38 NIV

[36] So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it--- [37] these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. [38] Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

** The three sermons that make up the bulk of Deuteronomy was delivered by Moses to the Israelites <R1795>

• The Promised Land was only an 11 day hike from where Moses delivered his sermons on the law, even though God gave the law to His people 40 years earlier

• Deuteronomy highlights the crises that occurred on the 40 year journey to the Promised Land and emphasizes the cost of sin

Deuteronomy 1:2-3 NIV

[2] (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) [3] In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

** Further in their obstinance, the Israelites believed they could circumvent God's punishment and enter the land by force

• Moses correctly identified this as further disobedience

• The people were warned that God is not with them because they turned from Him

• Timing is important in a relationship with God

• Acting too late is as much evidence of unbelief as original hesitation; both lead to disaster and defeat <R1795>

Numbers 14:39-42 NIV

[39] When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. [40] Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned! ” [41] But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! [42] Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,

Numbers 14:44-45 NIV

[44] Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. [45] Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

** The punishment God had pronounced for Moses was to remain, instructing Moses not to "speak to me anymore about this matter"

Deuteronomy 3:23-27 NIV

** God had a harsh response to Cain for murdering his brother; sin cannot go unpunished

Genesis 4:10-12 NIV

[10] The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. [11] Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. [12] When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

** God chose high flood waters that covered the entire earth for 5 months to destroy His creation as punishment for the people's wickedness

Genesis 7:4 NIV

[4] Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made. ”

Genesis 7:11-12 NIV

[11] In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month---on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. [12] And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:17-20 NIV

[17] For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. [18] The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. [19] They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. [20] The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.

Genesis 7:24 NIV

[24] The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

** Scripture records 4 times in 3 consecutive verses how God destroyed everything on earth through the flood

Genesis 7:21-23 NIV

[21] Every living thing that moved on land perished---birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. [22] Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. [23] Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

** Pharaoh recognizes God when asking Moses to pray that He would relieve them of the infestation of frogs and hail

Exodus 8:8-13 NIV

[8] Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.” [9] Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.” [10] “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said. Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God. [11] The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.” [12] After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. [13] And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields.

Exodus 9:27-30 NIV

[27] Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. [28] Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.” [29] Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. [30] But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”

** God repeatedly commands Pharaoh to "let His people go" through the voice of Moses, miraculously enforcing His command with plagues upon Egypt

Exodus 9:1-3a NIV

[1] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” [2] If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, [3] the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on you...

** Commentary “Hierarchy in the family” <G72>

After Christ, husband, and then wife, children are last in the family hierarchy. Children are never to rule the roost. Parents who allow their children to run wild, disobey, disrespect, and have their own way are demolishing God’s hierarchy for the family. Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” When parents require obedience from their children, they are training those children how to respond to God. God does not allow us to run wild, disobey, disrespect, and have our own way without severe consequences. Parents can model their parenting style after the heavenly Father and know they have the best possible example (2 Corinthians 6:18).

God instituted hierarchy in the family for our own good. Christ must always be first and foremost (1 Corinthians 11:3). His Word and His example are to be the standard in a Christian home. As husband and wife both seek the Lord together, they share the leadership role for the home and children. When each member of the family seeks to honor his or her role as a way of honoring God, the family flourishes and everyone’s needs are met.

** Christians should remember that, in addition to God's merciful grace, He also holds us accountable and harshly disciplines us when we unrepentantly engage in sin

Psalm 38:1-3 NIV

[1] Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. [2] Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. [3] Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.

** God is all powerful and His intentions to judge His people will be unquestioningly known by all

Psalm 50:1-4 NIV

[1] The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. [2] From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. [3] Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. [4] He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:

Psalm 50:6 NIV

[6] And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.

** Losing sight must have been traumatic for Paul and regaining his sight must have been incredibly comforting; God definitely got Paul's attention!

Acts 22:11-13 NIV

[11] My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. [12] “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. [13] He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

** God provides difficulties in our lives to shape us into effective witnesses for Him, just like burdening Paul so he would stop persecuting Christians but rather encourage them

Acts 22:14-15 NIV [Ananias said to Paul]

[14] “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. [15] You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

** Jesus, in His human state, experienced the divine wrath of God in response to sin; the Psalmist also identified with this feeling when he was surrounded by sin

Psalm 22:1,18-19 NIV

[1] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? [18] They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. [19] But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

Matthew 27:46,50 NIV

[46] About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). [50] And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

** Jesus will hold final judgment after the Millennium that will include everyone from the start of mankind to present; our destiny is our choice, knowing that Jesus' judgment will not change -- those who believe going to Heaven and non-believers destined to eternal Hell

John 5:27-29 NIV

[27] And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. [28] “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice [29] and come out---those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

John 3:18 NIV

[18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

** People at the temple were selfishly involved in money exchange and worldly business

• Jesus would not tolerate sin and this disregard for His Father’s house

• No one dare resist Jesus' holy anger; everyone knew what they were doing was wrong

• This was a pattern of God: cleaning the house (refiners fire) before rebuilding with what is godly <C31>

Jesus exhibited “righteous anger” which is never selfish but always in defense of another — including defense of God; we see this when Christ did not cast judgment against those who put Him on the cross, but instead forgave them <M130>

John 2:14-16 NIV

[14] In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. [15] So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. [16] To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

** Using Scripture as our guide, we can focus on what is true and good; this will not only help us mature in our faith but experience an undeniable peace while doing so

Philippians 4:8-9 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things. [9] Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me---put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Psalm 19:7-11 NIV

[7] The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. [8] The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. [9] The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. [10] They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. [11] By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

** Jesus held human relationships in high regard while He walked the earth and now His friends urgently needed Him

• Mary, Martha and Lazarus were among Jesus' closest friends

• As John began the story of Lazarus, he wanted us to know how deeply Jesus did love the man and the sisters

• Jesus delayed his response to Mary’s prayer and Lazarus did die

• But in this case, as in ours, Jesus had a purpose no one was able to grasp until Lazarus was raised

• Don’t let God’s failure to give you what you ask shake your confidence in prayer or in God’s love; He has something better in mind for you! <R1795>

• Every difficult situation is an opportunity to trust God, waiting for His good purpose in His perfect timing

John 11:1-6 NIV

[1] Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. [2] (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) [3] So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” [4] When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.” [5] Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [6] So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,

** God uses discipline to provide for His children; Jesus told His disciples to seek out hospitable brothers and sisters when traveling; bless those households who welcome you but woe to those will not welcome or listen to you!

Matthew 10:11-15 NIV

Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. [12] As you enter the home, give it your greeting. [13] If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. [14] If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. [15] Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

** God may use suffering to awaken our spirits or to reveal His work; regardless of His purpose, we can rest in the fact that God loves us by proof of sending His Son to the world to take on our punishment

John 9:3 NIV

[3] “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

- Jesus knew the Jews wanted to kill Him

- Jesus was not preoccupied with His safety but instead was alert to every opportunity to meet people's needs around Him and fulfill His Father's will

- Jesus understood with compassion the blind man's isolation and loneliness

- Jesus noticed a blind man who was born blind; the disciples had a technical question asking the reason for the man's blindness -- the sin of the man or his parents -- and Jesus answers that his suffering is for a different purpose than the result of sin, to glorify God

** His discipline sometimes causes us to hurt and struggle which should lead us to the Father during these times so He can help us and teach us; ultimately we can learn from these difficult times

Matthew 11:29-30 NIV

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

** We often fear what other men can do to us but we should fear what the Almighty has in store for us, for the body only lasts a short time but our soul is eternal

Luke 12:4-5 NIV

[4] “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. [5] But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

** God uses our positive response to struggle as a testimony to advance the Gospel.

Philippians 1:12,14 NIV

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. [14] And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

Philippians 1:20-21 NIV

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. [21] For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:29 NIV

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,

** God can use anything to advance the Gospel, even what was intended for evil.

Philippians 1:15,17-18 NIV

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. [17] The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. [18] But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

** "We think differently than God! He hasn't asked us to figure out why He does the things He does. We can't. We are not capable. Our thinking is inferior to His. Our God is not a person who is slightly more intelligent: His thoughts are infinitely higher than ours. Knowing the gap is so large, shouldn't we put our energy toward submitting rather than over-analyzing? It is expected there will be many times when you won't figure Him out." <C37>

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

[8] “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. [9] “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

** God will justly repay those who thwart God-sent messengers and hinder the furthering of their message

Luke 11:50-51 NIV

[50] Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, [51] from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

Luke 11:52 NIV

[52] “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

** Zechariah was punished for his questioning God; he did not have a voice until the word of God came to pass at the appointed time

Luke 1:13,18-20 NIV

[13] But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. [18] Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” [19] The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. [20] And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Luke 1:36-37 NIV [When talking to Mary...]

[36] Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. [37] For no word from God will ever fail.”

** Part of God's love includes His discipline that we may be filled with the fullness of God, including His light, wisdom, holiness, power, glory and immeasurable love for us; may we comprehend God's love (as much as our human minds are capable) its breadth (of all mankind), length (from everlasting to everlasting), depth (not to be fathomed by any creature) and height (not to be reached by any enemy)

Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

** God is all powerful, all knowing, all present so His discipline is perfect and needed

Deuteronomy 8:5 NIV

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Psalm 94:12-13 NIV

Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law; [13] you grant them relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.

Deuteronomy 4:36 NIV

From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.

Job 5:17 NIV

“Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Psalm 39:10-13 NIV

Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand. [11] When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth---surely everyone is but a breath. [12] “Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were. [13] Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again before I depart and am no more.”

Proverbs 3:11-12 NIV

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, [12] because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

Jeremiah 10:24 NIV

Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure---not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.

Jeremiah 30:11 NIV

I am with you and will save you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’

1 Corinthians 11:32 NIV

Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

Hebrews 12:5-7 NIV

And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, [6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” [7] Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 NIV

who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone [16] in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

** We are issued a warning that if we don't love and serve the One True God then we our suffering will increase

Psalm 16:4 NIV

[4] Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

** Suffering and success often go together; if you are experiencing success then that's because you or someone before you has experienced suffering to enable that to happen <C31>

** Jeremiah understands that God's judgments are righteous and He dispenses 'just rewards' for our sins; repentance and a new direction should be on our lips

Lamentations 3:39-42 NIV

[39] Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? [40] Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. [41] Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: [42] “We have sinned and rebelled...

** Jesus had strong warnings against those who punish those who speak God's truth; the blood of His messengers will be on their hands

Matthew 23:33-36 NIV

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? [34] Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. [35] And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. [36] Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

** Jesus had strong warnings against those who think they can buy their way into heaven; actions of believers must include giving of self and personal resource

Matthew 23:23-24 NIV

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices---mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law---justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. [24] You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

** Jesus had strong warnings against those who are only concerned with what others think – whether they notice their goodness and importance – than focusing on the condition of their heart

Matthew 23:25-26 NIV

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. [26] Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

** Understand that suffering is often a consequence to the decision to live in sin

1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV

1 Peter 4:3-5 NIV

** The Lord can be angry and turn from us for a period of time for our own good (discipline), so we feel the impact of our sin; God continues to hear our plea, however, and we are blessed when He forgives us after recognizing and repenting from our ways

Lamentations 3:55-58 NIV

[55] I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. [56] You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” [57] You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” [58] You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.

** God disciplines those He loves; He also gives us opportunity to repent

Revelation 3:19 NIV

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Revelation 3:20 NIV

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

** Our view of suffering should be absolutely contrary to the world's; while others try to avoid it at all costs, Christians are to take a different view

James 1:2-3 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, [3] because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

James 1:12 NIV

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

** Don't short yourself of maturing in Christ; develop perseverance through suffering

James 1:4 NIV

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

** We are heirs of Christ if we are disciplined

Hebrews 12:8 NIV

If you are not disciplined - and everyone undergoes discipline - then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

** Discipline trains us in what is good

Proverbs 10:23 NIV

A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes, but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, [17] so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

James 4:6 NIV

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

** God allows us to come in His presence with a respectful heart, having a glimpse of His majesty and coming with a repentant heart; our attitude involves approaching God with a humble heart and request that He help us overcome our sin

Psalm 5:7-8 NIV

[7] But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. [8] Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies---make your way straight before me.

** David who could face Goliath melts into tears as he remembers his sin and impending Divine judgment

Psalm 6:1,3,6 NIV

[1] Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. [3] My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? [6] I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

** The Lord in His boundless love and mercy can deliver sinners from their sin debt when they repent and ask for forgiveness

Psalm 6:2,4 NIV

[2] Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. [4] Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

Revelation 3:10 NIV

[10] Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

Romans 8:1 NIV

[1] Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

** Disciplining as a form of punishment

Deuteronomy 21:20-21 NIV

They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” [21] Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

** Disciplining as a form of testing, cleansing and growth

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

** Paul suffered at the hands of authorities, yet he offered a defence and used the opportunity to also present his testimony

Acts 24:10-14 NIV

When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense. [11] You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. [12] My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. [13] And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. [14] However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,

Acts 24:22,24-25 NIV

Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.” [24] Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. [25] As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”

** God disciplines us because He loves us and we are His children!

Revelation 3:19 NIV

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV

Hebrews 12:7-8 NIV

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? [8] If you are not disciplined---and everyone undergoes discipline---then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

** God disciplines us perfectly, leading to life and holiness

Hebrews 12:9-10 NIV

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! [10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.

** The Lord disciplines and allows affliction to help us to grow and strengthen us as He sees fit.

Psalm 119:67 NIV

[67] Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

Psalm 119:71 NIV

[71] It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119:75 NIV

[75] I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

** God will punish those who do not follow His instruction; He wants to lead us toward holiness

1 Thessalonians 4:8 NIV

Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 12:9-10 NIV

** God often uses us when we are in difficult situations

Acts 28:7-9 NIV

There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. [8] His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. [9] When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured.

Acts 28:23-28 NIV

They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. [24] Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. [25] They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: [26] “ ‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” [27] For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ [28] “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

** God punishes those who do not want to know and obey Him

2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 NIV

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. [9] They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might [10] on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

** God will deal with the man of lawlessness and those who follow/refuse to believe God and He will gain victory!

2 Thessalonians 2:8 NIV

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 NIV

For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie [12] and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

** Leaders (elders) are to model Godly disciplined lives

Titus 1:6-9 NIV

An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. [7] Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless---not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. [8] Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. [9] He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

** Sometimes God uses us as a testimony to others

• Paul's illness was a trial to others

• No one can say for sure what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was

• It must have been a source of real pain in the apostle’s life and had affected those around him

Galatians 4:14 NIV

and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

** There is a consequence for not following God's way

Colossians 3:25 NIV

Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

• Sometimes the difficulty we find ourselves in is a direct result of our actions (lazy, disobedient, selfish, insensitive to others, etc)

• God may create the difficult situation but often it is just a natural consequence of our actions and lack of acknowledging God

Jonah 1:3 NIV

[3] But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish . He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Jonah 1:4,7-12,15-16 NIV

[4] Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. [7] Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. [8] So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” [9] He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. ” [10] This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) [11] The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” [12] “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” [15] Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. [16] At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

** Sometimes we are oblivious (not listening) and even knowingly disobedient regarding God's call on us, but God can wake us up and orchestrate a change of heart through difficult and sometimes extraordinary events prompting us to call on Him

Jonah 2:1-6 NIV

2 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. [2] He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. [3] You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. [4] I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ [5] The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. [6] To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.

James 4:6 NIV

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

** Repentance (put off old and cling to what is new) must be an integral part of our walk with God

Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

** If we love our children we will discipline them, as God loves and disciplines us

Revelation 3:19 NIV

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Proverbs 13:24 NIV

Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

Proverbs 19:18-20 NIV

Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death. [19] A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again. [20] Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

Hebrews 12:7 NIV

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

Hebrews 12:8 NIV

If you are not disciplined---and everyone undergoes discipline---then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

Hebrews 12:9-10 NIV

** Discipline as a form of cleansing and growth

Proverbs 22:15 NIV

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.

Ephesians 6:4 NIV

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Luke 6:40 NIV

The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

** Children's response to instruction and discipline

Ephesians 6:1-3 NIV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2] “Honor your father and mother”---which is the first commandment with a promise--- [3] “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Hebrews 12:9-10 NIV

** Parent's job is to draw out God's design in children

Proverbs 22:6 NIV

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

** Children are bound to have behavioral problems and make poor decisions later in life when there is a lack of discipline during their childhood

• Such was the case with Adonijah, David’s son

• David’s promise to make Solomon king must have been well known, yet Adonijah plotted to make himself ruler

• In anticipation of his father's imminent death, Adonijah invited his brother princes and the court officials to a solemn sacrifice in order to announce his claim to the throne; notably, he did not invite Solomon nor any of his supporters <W2201>

• King David made Solomon his successor and Adonijah feared for his life

• David’s failure to discipline Adonijah, as he failed to discipline Absalom, bore similar fruit

• Parents who fail to discipline their children share the blame when those children choose to do wrong <R1795>

1 Kings 1:5-6 NIV

[5] Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. [6] (His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

1 Kings 1:39-40,49-50,52-53 NIV

[39] Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” [40] And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound. [49] At this, all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed. [50] But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. [52] Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.” [53] Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”

A1.

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