Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews
chapter 12, and we read for our text two words at the end of
verse 11. Exercised thereby. The whole verse reads, how no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, Nevertheless,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. Hebrews 12 and verse 11. As we go through this world,
we come across things that happen to ourselves, and we hear of
those things that others are passing through. Sometimes what
we hear or see or experience ourselves has a real effect upon
us, might make us very sad, might make us angry, might have an
effect in a quite a natural, we might say, way. But if we
are the Lord's people, We would hope that these things that we
see and pass through have some effect in a spiritual way, that
they cause us to be exercised thereby, that those things are
not wasted in our spiritual journey, in those things that we grow
in grace in, that we are taught by God, that God uses Those things,
not necessarily all what happened to us personally, but what we
observe others going through, uses them for our good, in chastening,
in correcting, in guiding, instructing, in leading us in the paths of
righteousness. And there is this mark then that
the ungodly and those that do not know the new birth do not
have. that they do not have a spiritual
aspect to what things that happen around them affect them in. It only affects them in a natural
way. God's people, it affects them
in a spiritual way. At least, it should do so. We think of Hymn 76, judgments,
nor mercies, ne'er can sway the roving heart to wisdom's way. By nature nothing moves us, but
under the gracious hand of God there is a change, and things
do move us. We find the case of wicked Manasseh,
the king, Hezekiah's son, who for fifty-five years was king
over Judah, and for many of them worked much wickedness in the
land. And yet the Lord sent many prophets,
they weren't hearkened to, they weren't heard. And then he caused
him to be taken captive. And in his affliction, then he
turned and sought unto the Lord. And the Lord blessed him with
real repentance. Just because we may go for a
long period hardened, careless, unexercised, doesn't mean to
say that God is unable to break our hearts, turn us, soften us,
and bring us to be spiritually blessed by what hitherto had
made no impression upon us at all. And so it is my desire this
evening to look at this word, these two words, exercised thereby,
And firstly, what it means, what it means to be exercised spiritually. And then secondly, as state by
nature, unexercised, unconcerned. And then lastly, the six scriptural
examples of being rightly exercised. But firstly, what it means, what
does it mean to be Exercise spiritually. We know what it is in a natural
sense. If we do exercise, if we go for
a walk, we're exercising. If we go to the gym, we're exercising. We're exercising our bodies.
And when we exercise our bodies, we're strengthening those muscles
by use. The apostle says, that there
are those that, because they are exercised in spiritual things,
that they are strengthened thereby. And so there is an analogy in
that. By being exercised in a physical
way, we are strengthening our body. By being exercised in a
spiritual way, we are strengthening our soul, and we are strengthening
the spiritual life. To be spiritually minded is life
and peace, to be kindly minded is death. So what is it to be
exercised spiritually? Well the first thing is, is to
be concerned. To actually take on board what
is happening and it brings about a concern in our souls, a concern
for our souls, a concern for eternity. It doesn't just revolve
around time, but how our soul's condition is and where we shall
spend eternity. All that are called by grace,
all that are quickened, they must have a time when they first
become concerned for their soul, where at first they did not.
But that doesn't mean that that's just confined to the beginning. Concern in a spiritual way will
run right through the life of God's children. Another aspect
is thinking, our thoughts. With the wicked, God is not in
all their thoughts. But the people of God say, my
meditation shall be of Him. They think upon His name. And
the Lord said that a book of remembrance is written for those
that spake often one to another and that thought upon his name. So to be exercised is not to
be just thoughtless, but to have thoughts, to go over things in
our mind, in our head, but not just to go over it, but to pray
over it. We sang in our middle hymn of
those with concerns that fear the fellow creatures here, with
the sad tale of all their woe. And the hymn writer says that
if all that breath was spent in prayer, then more often it
would be, hear what the Lord has done for me. And so if we're
rightly exercised, that will involve prayer. We'll be going
to the Lord, asking Him, why? Why this? Asking for help, asking
for strength, asking Him, to be an interpreter for us. Prayer
will be a great part of an exercised soul. An unexercised soul will
be one that has little use of prayer. Then the Scriptures,
the Word of God. If we are exercised, then we'll
be concerned to hear the Word of God, to read the Word of God,
to not just throw it away, not be ignorant of it. That will
be what we want to do. We want to hear the Word of God. If we're exercised as well, there'll
be that examination of our lives, comparing of our lives with the
Word of God, using it as a mirror, searching our own lives and asking
the Lord to search it for us. What are our motives? What is
going on within? not just drifting along, but
really taking stock of what is going on. To Psalmist he says,
I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. And he is mindful
of what is going on in his heart, a conflict between a love of
the law of God and a hatred of vain and empty thoughts. If we exercise, we'll want to
know what the Lord is saying to us. Hear ye the rod and whoever
pointed it, what he is saying in our trials, our afflictions,
our troubles, all those things that other people are going through,
is there a voice in them? Is there a message from the Lord
in them? And those things that we go through,
we want to know what the Lord is doing. Sometimes the Lord
may not tell us, he may hide it from us, but there'll be that
concern, what is the Lord doing? Why are these things coming upon
me? Why has all this happened? Why
these troubles, these afflictions, this particular path? And all
these things, they constitute that spiritual exercise. It will be that which leads us
to salvation, leads us to consider how God can be just and show
us kindness and mercy and help us It'll make us to look at how
we can ever have a warrant to expect anything from the Lord,
certainly nothing on our own account, nothing by our own works,
but all on mercy's ground. Truly, the publican in praying,
God be merciful to me, a sinner, has certainly been mindful of
what was going on in his soul, be mindful of his sins. He knew
he couldn't plead any good works. And so that shaped and fashioned
his prayer as well. And so may we be what is in the
scripture set forth as being spiritually exercised. And we see not just one thing,
but many things whereby we may say we are exercised. We have been exercised thereby. We have been brought to be concerned
and to meditate, to pray, to lay these things before the Lord
and to examine ourselves before the Lord because of this thing
that has come upon us and the path that we are walking in or
others are walking that we are viewing them walking in. I want to look secondly at our
state by nature and how that is unexercised. We are told that the natural
man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them. We have a carnal mind and he
can't dwell on spiritual things. He doesn't desire to. The language
of the natural man and the wicked is depart from us. We desire
not the knowledge of thy ways. Sometimes there might be a curiosity
just to have the word of God or to read it a bit, but to go
to the house of God, to hear a sermon, to inquire further,
no, no, no, no. That would too much interfere
with our life and there's no concern about the soul at all,
unless the Lord changes, unless the Lord brings a concern and
blesses that word. But by nature, we are unconcerned,
as the hymn writer said, and can look upon eternal misery
and be utterly unaffected by it at all. We can stand in an
open grave and we can look at those who've died, we can mourn
naturally for them, but we never think, well, that might be us,
and when it shall be us, where will our soul be? Where will
we go? Those thoughts naturally do not
come, or if they do, in a natural way, they soon wither up and
die away. and is a solemn state that we're
in by nature with warnings all around us, examples all around
us, tombstones around us, hospitals all the way around us, those
that are getting sick, pains in our own body, afflictions
around, and we still remain just the same. Many of the people
of God are very concerned, and we should be concerned with our
lack of concern. and concerned because of our
lack of exercise, and concerned that we ever bear a resemblance
to those that have never known the things of God at all. We think of what the Lord said
concerning Israel of old in Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 42, we read
of Israel's unconcerned state and condition. We read in verse 24 of that chapter,
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not
the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not
walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon
him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, and it
hath set him on fire round about. Yet he knew not, and it burned
him, yet he laid it not to heart. God's people, God's ancient people,
God linking, the path that they are walking and the things that
he is bringing upon them. And yet they didn't identify it or
know it as the hand of the Lord and never laid it to heart. They
were not concerned or exercised at all. Judgments or mercies
indeed with the children of Israel. Then we read the solemn account
in the prophecy of Jeremiah, where the king was given the
role from Jeremiah and it was read to him all of the Lord's
words against Israel before that they were then carried away,
before Judah was carried away into captivity. But what was
his reaction, his thought when those words were actually read
in front of him, solemn words, words concerning the Lord's judgment
upon them. We read, it came to pass, and
this is in Jeremiah 36 verse 23, came to pass when Jehudi
had read three or four leaves He that is the king, Jehoiakim,
he cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was
on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire
that was on the hearth. How they treated the Word of
God. Then we read this, yet they were not afraid, nor rent their
garments, Neither the king nor any of his servants that heard
all these words. Nevertheless, El Nathan and Deliah
and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not
burn the roll, but he would not hear them. Refusing to hear the
word of the Lord, trying to destroy the word of the Lord. But the
Lord says, heaven and earth shall pass away. But my word shall
not pass away. And in the letters to the churches,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. What a different reaction this
king had than Josiah before him. And how that Josiah, when he,
they found the book of the law of God, that he humbled himself
before the Lord. He recognized the judgment that
was coming and bowed before the Lord, sent to inquire of the
Lord concerning Israel, concerning Judah and what would happen. And the Lord then showed mercy
upon him that he should not see the evil that was to come upon
the land. There's another occasion as well,
that is when God's people are taken away, when they're taken
home. We read in Isaiah 57 and verse
1, The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. The merciful men are taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. No effect. When godly men, women
are taken away, when it was that Jeroboam, wicked Jeroboam's son
died, it was said as a blessing that he only of the house of
Jeroboam Some good thing is found in him toward the Lord God of
Israel. He only shall come to his grave
in peace. It was a blessing, an early death,
a blessing. Men would judge that otherwise,
wouldn't they? But that was God's word then. May we then, when we hear of
God's people taken away, then we do lay it to heart. We feel
it when those praying souls, their prayers stay silent. Yes,
those uttered still remain to be answered, but what a sad thing
when the houses of God that once were full of godly men and women
now are emptied and they don't have them. By nature then, and in a carnal
state and in a state untouched by the Lord. We have these things
happen and we are unexercised. Our life goes on as usual. We
remain unmoved. Time to look the other way now and look at six scriptural examples
of a right exercise under the hand of the Lord. And for this,
we'll go right back to our text and the context of the text. Hebrews 12 and verse 11, the
chastening hand of the Lord. This is something we're told
in this chapter, that every single one of God's children will be
chastened. There's no exception to it. May
we be clear that not all trials, tribulations that God's children
go through, sicknesses, illnesses, they are not all chastening. It is chastening when God has
already beforehand told us that these things that we are doing
are wrong and we've taken no notice. So then he brings the
correcting chastening rod here ye the rod and who hath appointed
it. It reflects exactly how we would
treat our own children. If we are blessed with good children,
there's seldom a time that we do actually have to really chasten
them. We can reprove them. We can tell
them what they should do or should not do. We can warn them. But if they take heed to it,
They walk in a correct way. They don't feel the rod. They
don't feel things taken from them. They hear the rod when
it is given. They see the love in it, and
it works for them good. But whenever the rod is used,
whenever further punishment is used, they will always know. They could not turn around and
say, why did you crack me like that? They would already have
been told, already been warned, already known. And so that is
with us as well. If, unless our conscience is
utterly dead and hardened, then it will bear witness as to what
the Lord has been telling us, prompting us to do or not to
do, and we're still persisting in it. And so it is to be discerned
what that chastening is. With the world, you might say
you can be chastened with afflictions, accidents, injuries. We can have people turn against
us. But for God's children, there's
an additional way. Because the Lord can hide his
face from them. He can do like Jeremiah experienced,
that Job experienced, those times when the Lord hid his face from
them, not that they were in times of chastening, but when the Lord
hides his face from his people, then they feel it. Israel felt
it. Sometimes it took them a long
while to feel it, many years to feel it, but in the end they
did. The Lord says, I'll return unto
my place. When they acknowledge their iniquity,
then I'll return. And so the Lord has ways with
his people. And we must not think that things
happen by chance. You must not think that, well,
it would have happened anyway. We are to remember what David
said when he came to Goliath, to the battle, is there not a
cause? The curse causeless shall not
come. The Lord doth not take pleasure
to lay the rod on his people for no reason and no purpose. It's always a last resort when
the word is not heard. And so, in our text and in the
context here, the blessing is not on one that is chastened. Yes, every one. of God's children
shall be chastened. And there's a mark of a child
of God, but the true mark, the true mark is in our text. It
is when we are exercised thereby. Let's read the whole verse again.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards, It
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby under the chastening hand of God. Those
things that we said of an exercise, concerned and prayer, it changes
how we listen to the preached word. It changes how we come
before the Lord. It makes an effect upon us. exercised. May that be so with us. And maybe we might have to come
before the Lord and ask, Lord, give me a real exercise. Grant me this blessing, acknowledging
that it doesn't come from our old nature, it doesn't come from
us. As much as the chastening hand
comes from God, so the exercise mind comes from Him too. and to not use that just as an
excuse of hardness, but to be concerned that we are rightly
exercised and are not just ploughing on, regardless of anything the
Lord brings. You think of Pharaoh. The Lord
began to work signs of oneness in his land and he just ploughed
on. He just refused to be bowed. Hardening his heart every time,
nine times, until that land was utterly destroyed and then he
lost all the firstborn. Let us not be like Pharaoh. The second example is that of
Mary, the mother of our Lord. What is said of and what is said
by our Lord Jesus Christ. When the shepherds came, they
told many wondrous things what had been said of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. You can read of it in the second
of Luke. And as Mary heard these things,
well, there was a different reaction Those that heard it, we read
in verse 18, all that heard it wondered at those things which
were told them by the shepherd. They just wondered at them. But
then we have, but Mary, a difference. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. In other words, she was exercised
about them. to ponder the things that have
been said about the Lord Jesus Christ. How many times do we
do that? And then later on, when our Lord
was found in the temple, when he was asking questions of the
lawyers and answering their questions, and she said to him, Son, why
hast thou dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have
sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, how is
it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about
my father's business? Obviously, he's not the same
father being referred to as what Mary was saying, her husband,
but his heavenly father. And we read, they understood
not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with
them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. And then
we have it, but again, but his mother kept all these sayings
in her heart. How long had she to keep them?
How long had she to be exercised and concerned? Well, some 33
years, wasn't it? From the first, from his birth
to when he was crucified and rose again from the dead, then
they fully understood, and more so when the Holy Spirit was given,
then they understood. When the Lord ascended up into
heaven, then they knew the plan of salvation. They knew that
Jesus Christ was the Son of God. They knew that He was the Redeemer. They knew that through His sacrifice
and death and bloodshedding, that He had redeemed His people,
and that by His rising again, He'd given assurance unto all
men that this had been done, and therefore the judgment day
must come. Can't have just half the debt
paid, the wrath of God falling upon His beloved Son in the place
of His people, but what about the other people? The judgment
day shall determine that. But Mary had to wait all this
time. How many years, perhaps, have we been exercised and concerned
and pondering and laying up and keeping in our heart things that
have been said and things that have been done and that we've
gone through and they don't seem to fit. They're like a piece
of a puzzle that seems to have no place for it to fit into.
But as the puzzle is slowly completed, at last, there is the spot there
that peace can be put in. If I am being encouraged to ponder
on, and to keep on and to wait on, and to be exercised still,
what harm can it do? For it brings us to the Lord,
it brings us to prayer, it brings us to hope in Him, and for His
work to appear may not be a cause of despairing, but a cause of
exercise. when we hear what is said of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and hear those things that are said by
our Lord Jesus Christ. Then thirdly, when we have divisions
in the Church of God, sadly it is that the Church of God does
have divisions. Paul says of the Corinthian church
in 1 Corinthians 11 that he heard that there were divisions amongst
them and he partly believed it. Solemn thing, sad thing, abuses
of the Lord's Supper, comparing one another with one another.
I am of Paul, I am of Apollos in the church of God. We have
in the song in Judges 5 of Deborah and Barak after their triumph
over the king of Canaan. And in their song, these words
are found in verse 15 and 16. For the divisions of Reuben,
there were great thoughts of heart. The margin says impressions. And then the next verse, for
the divisions of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. I wonder how it is with us when
we have troubles in our own church, we hear troubles in other churches,
we have troubles in Zion. Do we have great thoughts of
heart? Do we have great searchings of
heart? Does it concern us? Do we think,
what is God doing? What is he allowing of the Church
of God? Does he have a controversy with
us as a denomination, as churches in this land? What is the reason for this? Paul says to the Corinthians,
there must needs be heresies among you that they that are
approved might be made manifest. where there is a true exercise. Even though there is troubles,
those that know the truth will rise up and soberly, meekly but
firmly speak the truth and set it forth. The Lord uses for good
the troubles in Zion. And one good is that there be
searchings of heart, exercise of heart. It stirs a lukewarm
church up, it stirs those who are indifferent up, those who
are prayerless up to pray, and brings those that are just going
as a door upon its hinges to hopefully be raised up to some
concern. Sadly, it seems that the way
that it's reacted to some is instead of saying defend the
truth, that they're up and go somewhere else. Well, if there
is constant, deliberate error in a place, wrong in a place,
completely unscriptural, then we leave. But where the Lord's
Spirit still is, where we know the truth, we're to speak the
truth and contend for it and strengthen the hands of those
that are standing for the truth of God. What about under the preach word,
our fourth point? The Bereans are those that I'm
thinking about on this point. The apostle, he went to Thessalonica. He had been to Berea. He had preached the word to them. And he marks out a difference
between those in Thessalonica and those in Breon. Remember,
those in Thessalonica, they were God's people. You read the epistles
to the Thessalonians. They were those who were really
blessed there, they were really favoured. But Paul sets the Breons
even higher, as to be more noble than they, and he gives the reason
for it and it was concerning the preaching of the word and
how they reacted to the preaching of the word. In Acts 17 and verse
11 we read of the Theboreans, these were more noble than those
in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether these things were
so, therefore many of them believed, also of honourable women which
were Greeks, and of men not a few." In other words, they were exercised,
they were concerned when Paul preached, were these things that
he was preaching so? And so they searched the scriptures.
Paul preached one day, they searched every day. and therefore many
of them were blessed. You know, you might come from
hearing a minister and you think, is he right? Has he said that
right? I haven't heard him preach like that before. Maybe your
first thought is to get on the phone and to have a go at him.
Or maybe read some other book and see what the commentators
say on it. Or maybe it is to take your Bible
and search the scriptures And then even if at the end you have
to say, well actually the minister was mistaken, that wasn't said
right, but you've gleaned, you've benefited from it, you've found
out firsthand from the word of God what the truth is. It is wrought that good in you
to be exercised and concerned. There are many that will say,
if it was a red sermon, well, it's by Mr. Philpott, it must
be right. And they never search the scriptures
to see whether it is or not. If it's a good minister, they
say, well, we always trust what he says. Dangerous thing. You have to search the scriptures. Scriptures say that let one preach
and another judge, and that the elders be accountable to one
another, so that there is not an error. The only infallible
word is the word of God. It's not us. We do make mistakes. We do say things wrong, we do
put things in wrong order sometimes. The scriptures remain as to what
the hearer should go back to and search the scriptures like
the brilliance. To be really exercised in that
way. One of the marks of an exercised
soul, exercised thereby, exercised by the preaching, is that they
go to the Word and read the Word. and their concerns are found,
walked out in that way. Then we go back to our reading.
We read in Psalm 105. And in that Psalm, there is rehearsed
many of the things that the Lord did with the children of Israel,
the things that they passed through, and how the Lord worked in Egypt,
but what it was particularly that is upon my spirit to bring
before you is that effect upon Joseph. And we read of that in
verse 19. From verse 17, he sent a man
before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose
feet they hurt with fetters, he was laid in iron, Until the
time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. In other words, he was exercised. Why was he? What was the Lord
doing? What were those dreams he had years ago? Why was he
sold by his brothers? Why was he falsely accused? Why
was he in this prison? Why was he forgotten? The Lord
was with him, but The word of the Lord tried him. This is inspired word of God. And we might be in situations
and we think what we thought would happen and how the Lord
would appear and what the Lord had purposed for us, but our
present circumstances don't seem to add up to that at all. And
so the word of the Lord tries us and it searches us, was it
truly the Word of the Lord, is this really the path that I am
to walk in? Can you think of Abraham in a
similar way? The Word of the Lord to him was,
in thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed. But Abraham,
he hasn't got a seed, he hasn't got children, he's old, his wife
is old. The Word of the Lord tried him,
what a trial he had for those 25 years. Every promise, every prophecy,
until it is brought to pass, it is something that is an exercise,
a concern, a burden, a waiting upon the Lord to perform it. It's good for us if we think
back. Sometimes the most profitable times of anxious prayer, importunate
prayer, Waiting upon the Lord has been when He's given a promise,
and we are so concerned that it be brought to pass, and it
hasn't been brought to pass yet, and we're begging of the Lord
for it. When we have a real concern in the Word of God, the Word
that we're pleading, bringing before Him to put Him in remembrance,
that Word, the Word of the Lord, tries us. You might think, well,
the Word of the Lord should be to to comfort, to reassure, not
to try us. But it does try us when it seems
to say one thing, and we're seeing another, like Asaph, the word
of the Lord, speaking well for the righteous, but he sees the
wicked, they're prospering, and the righteous, they're in troubles
and in trials, until he goes into the sanctuary. Then he understood
their end. Then he looks to eternity. Then
he sees not just time, But he sees beyond the grave, and then
he understands the end. But until he could do that, then
he was exercised and concerned and burdened, and maybe you are
too. Those things you cannot lay straight. Who can make straight
that which God hath made crooked? Can't do it. The two on the way
to Emmaus, we trusted it should have been he that should have
redeemed Israel. They couldn't lay it straight with the scriptures.
until our Lord came and took them through the Scriptures,
and then they could see it laid straight by the Lord. Often it
is our own interpretation that makes it to be a crooked and
tried thing. But what I do, thou knowest not
now, thou shalt know hereafter. God is his own interpreter, and
he will make it plain. If Joseph was tried like this,
don't be surprised if we will as well. being tried by the Word
and by that place that we are found in, in Providence. And then lastly, the case of
King David, Psalm 51. A sinner under conviction of sin,
a sinner that has been brought face to face with their sin,
and he acknowledges and says, I have sinned. And we see the
effect. Really, Psalm 51 is a psalm of
an exercised soul. Exercise thereby. And yet David
was forgiven. He was pardoned. Yes, chastened,
the sword shall not depart from thine house. But see what it
wrought in him. See the exercise of his soul.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin. You can read your leisure the
whole of that psalm, his confessions, his desire that the Lord hide
his face from his sins that they would have created in him, a
clean heart, a renewed right spirit, that he be not cast away
from the presence of the Lord, and that the Holy Spirit be not
taken from him. And he wanted restored the joy
of God's salvation. And all these things are going
on in his soul. What a living soul, a lively
soul, so very different than before that Nathan came. It appears
David was so heartened. He hadn't even recognised when
the parable was told of the poor man's lamb. He hadn't even thought,
why is the prophet being sent to me? He didn't even appear
to have a guilty conscience. He appeared to have completely
covered it, stamped on it. The Lord knew how to break through
it, how to convict him, how to bring him again. from being hardened
and unexercised, unprepared, with no prayers, to being such
a very different person. Exercise thereby. Don't despair
when we find our hearts so hard, but make that itself a cause
of exercise, to be exercised thereby on that. What if I stay
like this? What if I remain like this? What if I remain unmoved, unexercised,
unconcerned, hardened in my sin? May it please the Lord to give
that exercise because of that. There are many things that the
Lord uses for his people to be exercised thereby. May we notice
and accounted a blessing from the Lord when we are exercised. And remember, especially in relation
to our text, it is said regarding the chastening, that it is not
joyous, but grievous. And through this time of exercise,
there was not joy but grief, but there was exercise in it.
Don't think that the exercise path is a joyful path. David's
wasn't, Joseph's wasn't. but it was a profitable path.
The psalmist says, it is good for me that I was afflicted.
Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy
word. Exercise thereby, may it be said
of us, in those things the Lord brings us into, or that we hear
of loved ones pass through, that we are. Exercise thereby, and
we are given as well that peaceable fruit of righteousness to follow
it.