Chastisement: May 25, 2011

TODAYS WORD FOR WEDNESDAY MAY 25, 2011.

CHASTISEMENT

DEFINITION:

Fatherly correction; discipline; training.

SCRIPTURE:

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction: for whom the Lord loves He corrects. Proverbs 3:11-12.

As a man chastens his son, so the Lord thy God chastens thee. Deuteronomy 8:5.

KNOWLEDGE:

The word chastisement as used in the scriptures may be better understood today as correction. In the verses from Proverbs that we have written above, the psalmist reminds us as children of God not to despise the correction (chastisement) nor get weary of the correction that that God gives us.

In the verse from Deuteronomy we are reminded that God corrects us as do fathers who love their children. As children we did not like it when our parents corrected us even though they told us they corrected us because they loved us. We did not enjoy disciplining our children but we knew we must do so because we loved them and were concerned about them. This is a concept that most people do not understand today, both from the position of giving the correction and when one receives correction.

Allowing children to do whatever they want and giving them everything they ask for is not showing love because it is not in the best interest of the child. Discipline is necessary to teach a child right from wrong.

Chastisement was designed by God to correct us, to prevent us from sinning and to bless us. In Jeremiah 24: 5-6 we are given the story of two baskets of figs --- one of good figs and one of bad figs.

God allowed king Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Jehoikim, the king of Judah because of their sin and disobedience. The baskets of figs represented the exiles that were taken from Judah to Babylon. This was God’s chastisement on His people. The good figs represented the good exiles whose hearts were responsive to God. God blessed them and eventually brought them back to Judah. The bad figs represented the bad exiles that continued in their sins and eventually were destroyed. When God disciplines us it is never without a reason and it is always for a purpose. The lesson for us is to keep our hearts responsive to God’s fatherly correction, and then He will bless us as He did the good exiles.

In II Corinthians 12: 7-9 we are told that Paul was tormented by Satan with what Paul called a “thorn in the flesh.” Three times Paul prayed that the Lord would remove it, but when the Lord did not remove it Paul realized his “thorn in the flesh” kept him humble and showed him he must depend on the Lord and not on his own abilities. It kept him from the sin of pride. God has designed correction to prevent us from sinning. And finally he corrects us so that we can be blessed. In Psalm 94:12, the psalmist says, “Blessed is the man whom You instruct (correct) and teach out of Your law.”

Children respond to correction in different ways. When we think back to the days that we were raising our children and needed to correct them, we remember different responses to let us know they weren’t happy about being corrected. We had sometimes just “a look” and possibly a short comment and a quick exit from the room. Others would like to argue their case and question with a series of questions like, “Why” “How come?” Even though they didn’t want to hear it, we gave them a full explanation. At other times we were just ignored.

No matter what their reaction we knew that it was important to follow through and our discipline had to be consistent. Most importantly, discipline must not be given in anger.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament give us guides as to how we should respond to correction given us by our Lord. In II Chronicles 6:24-31 we see that God desires that we repent in response.

In II Corinthians 12:7-10 we see that we are to show submission to God our Father. It is only as we are willing to submit to God that we can experience His power and blessing in our lives.

We encourage you today to be open to the chastisement that the Lord has for you so that you can repent and change the behavior that hinders your relationship with God.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Jeremiah 33:3.

Call unto me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

PRAYER:

Help me to be open to the corrections that You have for me today. May I learn to respond to Your corrections for my life with repentance and submission.