Let me go over and cut off his head." As Shimei was cursing David, Abishai asked David, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head. David would not allow it, but with holy meekness submitted to the indignity, saying, Let him alone, and let him curse, for so the Lord has ordered him.

In the same way, from whatever quarter our trials may come, we should view the hand of God in them and receive them as from Him. We must always, however, distinguish between the punishments of judicial wrath upon the ungodly and the chastisements of paternal love upon the godly.

As a loving father, God chastens His most beloved children, and they can never err in saying, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him. It is surprising what composure this will bring into the mind amidst all the sufferings that can be inflicted on us by others. The consideration that all of our afflictions are sent by our wise and gracious God will reconcile us to them.

The thought of there being fatherly chastisements for sin and means of purifying us from our corruptions will make us to kiss God's rod and to say, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. Let us only see that He is chastening us for our profit, and however we may, under the pressure of our anguish, dislike the painful affliction, we shall from our inmost souls refer ourselves to God's all-wise disposal, saying, Not my will, but may your will be done.

However severely God may see fit to chastise His redeemed people, there are two things which He gives them for their support, namely, a sense of His presence with them in their affliction, and the prospect of a blessed outcome from it. God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. 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. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 10 and 11.

When His chastisements have produced their desired effect in us, God, as a refiner watching over the vessels which He has put into His furnace, will remove us. He will then show us that we have been purified by means of His furnace of affliction and have lost nothing in it but our dross. Such chastisements of paternal love are painful to flesh and blood, but they are, in reality, rich blessings in disguise.