I want to talk a little bit about the chastening and rebuke of the Lord, specifically about some erroneous assumptions I’ve made about God’s ways in my life. I’ve been under much chastening and rebuke from the Lord in my life. The truth is that I’ve needed it but I’ve often misunderstood it.
If you have grown up with people of authority over you, and they have unjustly disciplined you, it’s very easy to take that and apply that picture in our head of who God is. I’ve thought that I could never please God, that He was waiting for me to mess up so that He could smack me upside the head. I’m 64 years old and am beginning to realize much more that God loves me, even when He has to painfully discipline me.
Remember that the most painful correction is to the uncoverted. God just lets them go their own way (See Hebrews 12:8). He corrects out of love and mercy, not to get even with us. These lies have to be destroyed because if we act on them, they will take us away from the heart of Jesus. I’m like the man in the parable of the unforgiving servant who tried to pay the king back for his debt (in Matthew 18). I can’t do it (nor can you), but we extend the mercy to those around it who are desperate for it.
Jesus is the one who can and will deliver us from all of the lies of the enemy. That’s surely true but we must no longer run or to attempt to escape or blow Jesus off but let him deal with our hearts. Our task is simply to endure (stay under His control as we submit to Him) and to wait upon Him.