THE REASON FOR CHASTISEMENT For
whom the Lord loves, he chastens. What, God loves me when he is
discharging his quiver upon me, emptying me from vessel to vessel,
causing the sun of my earthly joys to set in clouds? Yes, O afflicted, tossed with
tempest, he chastens you because he loves you. This trial comes
from his own tender, loving hand, his own tender, unchanging heart. Are you laid on a sick-bed? Sorrowful
months and worrisome nights appointed unto you? Let this be the pillow
on which your aching head reclines. It is because he loves me. Is it bereavement that has swept
your heart and desolated your dwelling? He appointed that chamber
of death because He loves you. As it is the suffering child
of the family which claims a mother's deepest affections and most tender
solicitude, so have you at this moment embarked on your side
the most tender love and solicitude of a Heavenly Father. he loved
you, into this sorrow, and will love you through it. There is
nothing capricious in his dealings. Love is the reason for all he
does. There is no drop of wrath in
that cup you are called to drink. I do believe, says one, he has
purchased these afflictions for us, as well as everything else. Blessed be his name! It is part
of his covenant to visit us with the rod. What says our adorable
Lord himself? The words were spoken, not when
he was on earth, a sojourner in a sorrowing world, but when
enthroned amid the glories of heaven. as many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten. Believer, rejoice in the thought
that the rod, the chastening rod, is in the hands of the living,
loving Saviour who died for you. Tribulation is the king's highway,
and yet that highway is paved with love. As some flowers require
crushing before shedding their fragrance, so does your God think
it suitable to bruise you. As some birds are said to sing
their sweetest notes when the thorn pierces their bosom, so
does He appoint affliction to lacerate, that you may be driven
to the wing, singing in your upward soaring. My heart is fixed,
O God, my heart is fixed. Be it ours to say, Lord, I will
love you, not only despite your rod, but, because of your rod,
I will rush into the very arms that are chastening me.