Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California.

What a difference there is in the way the Lord deals with various of His children! Some seem to go through much of their life without any trouble. And when they come to the end of their life they are taken to glory in a moment, peacefully, without any struggle and with little suffering. Then there are others of God’s children who have one trouble after another. They experience sorrow upon sorrow. Some of God’s children must suffer long years of sickness and agony before they are finally taken to glory. Why such a great difference?

That question cannot always be answered. God’s ways are higher than our ways. They are mysterious. Sometimes He leads His children into the depths of the sea without showing the reason. The reason is hidden in His secret counsel, not to be revealed until the last day. But this is absolutely sure: the ways of the Lord in dealing with His children are always perfectly wise and good.

Scripture however makes plain various purposes of the Father in chastening His children. Sometimes God’s children need to be chastened on account of their continuing sinfulness. Contrary to what is taught today in many churches, the child of God remains weak and sinful all the days of his life. He is made perfect only when the vile body of sin is destroyed in the grave and he receives a new body fashioned after the glorious image of Jesus Christ. Though the Lord repeatedly admonishes His children by His Word, that Word is not always obeyed, even by those who are the children of God. We are by nature hard-hearted and slow to believe and obey the Word of God. Our sinful nature rebels against the commandments of God. To correct children who continue to disobey the Word of God it sometimes becomes necessary for the Lord to chasten them.

This is a fearful thing. Sometimes the Lord has to give us over to our sins and let us suffer its bitter consequences. Peter was given over to the sin of pride and self-confidence when he denied his beloved Lord at the very time He was being tried to be crucified. He was given over to the devil to be sifted as wheat. What an awful experience that was for the great apostle of the Lord! After he had fallen into sin he went out and wept bitterly. David, because of the sin of pride and carnal trust in the strength of his army, was moved to commit the great sin of numbering Israel. This had most dreadful consequences for all Israel.

Young people are sometimes given over by the Lord to the consequences of their sins when they refuse to obey the Word of God and to listen to its many warnings concerning the serious consequences of sin and worldliness. They choose their friends from the world and follow the lifestyle of the world. They hurt themselves so grievously that they are scarred for life. They end up with ungodly life partners and deprive themselves of the great joy and blessing of Christian marriage for the rest of their life on earth. All of this may be the chastening of the Lord. Even older men might be so foolish as not to listen to the warnings of God’s Word concerning such things as excessive drinking or yielding to the temptation of adultery. As a result they bring awful shame and misery upon themselves and their families. Young women forsake their God-ordained calling in the home for the glamour of worldly careers. They will sometimes be severely chastened of the Lord and suffer the bitter consequences of children who in later life forsake the Lord and live wicked and ungodly lives.

When we are chastened of the Lord we ought always to consider whether the Lord is dealing with us because of our sin. This is not something which the child of God is exempt from because he has been made righteous in the cross of Christ. The Bible gives numerous examples of the Lord chastening His people because of their sins. Israel in the wilderness, though they were the special people of God, had to be chastened again and again because of their sin of murmuring and complaining and rebelling against the Lord. How often we complain against the Lord in a similar manner. The Lord chastens His children to cause them to repent of their sins and to plead with Him for His forgiving mercy.

When the Lord chastens us on account of our sin we must not harden our hearts and continue in sin nor turn from the Lord in anger. But rather we must by the grace of God in our hearts humble ourselves under the chastening hand of the Lord and repent of our sin. Furthermore, we must be thankful that the Lord did not leave us in our sin to be destroyed by the devil, but in the greatness of His mercy has by chastisement taught us the great seriousness of our sin and turned us away from the sin and back unto Himself. By chastisement He saved us and turned us again into the way of righteousness and life.

Though some of the Lord’s chastisement is on account of specific sin in the life of the child of God, this is by no means the only reason for chastening. It is a grave mistake to accuse of some great sin every child of God who is being chastened of the Lord, and to judge him in our minds. This is what the supposed friends of Job tried to do when Job was grievously chastened of the Lord. But one of the amazing things of the book of Job is that it begins with the testimony concerning Job that he was “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). The “friends” of Job were entirely wrong in accusing Job of some great evil and only added to his grief and sorrow by their high-sounding accusations. Some of the greatest saints of the Lord have suffered the most severe chastening of the Lord. God’s purposes in such chastisement are largely positive. His purpose maybe to perfect His virtues in His saints for the glory of His own name. Think of how gloriously the faith of Job shines in the midst of his great affliction. He is an outstanding example of patience and trust in God. The Lord Himself worked those glorious virtues in Job by means of chastisement.

Sometimes the Lord chastens His children in order to keep them from evil. That is strikingly illustrated in the life of the apostle Paul. Paul tells us in II Corinthians 12 of an amazing experience that happened in his life. He was translated in the spirit into heaven where he saw wonderful visions, more glorious than any other man had seen. Then Paul says that, in order that he might not be exalted above measure and become proud of himself, God gave him “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him.” That thorn in the flesh was given to Paul to prevent pride from arising in his heart and to keep him humble. It reminded him daily of his own great weakness and of the need of the grace of God in his life. When God gives some of His saints very high privileges in His church and kingdom, such as those He gives to ministers and office bearers, He sometimes must chasten them in order to keep them from spoiling their life by the sin of pride and self-exaltation.

The Lord often chastens His children to teach them their great weakness and complete dependence on the Lord. How hard it was for Israel to depend on the Lord as He led them through the wilderness to the promised land. Therefore the Lord had to chasten them over and over, to try their faith and cause them to cry out unto Him for help. We are just as slow to trust in the Lord. Our sinful nature is such that we desperately want to rely on ourselves and glory in our own strength and wisdom. So the Lord has to teach us again and again our need of His grace and strength in all our life. We can learn this often only through chastisement by our heavenly Father.

The Lord chastens His children in order to teach them the riches of His grace and mercy. ‘This is truly wonderful. He teaches us lessons through chastisement that we could not learn in a life of ease and luxury in which we never experienced any trouble. Chastening can produce in the child of God a profound consciousness of God’s love and faithfulness. As a pastor I have heard some of the most beautiful testimonies of the grace and mercy of God from the mouths of saints who were severely chastened of the Lord. Such chastisement actually brought these saints closer to the Lord and caused them to experience more than ever the goodness and mercy of God, even when they could not fully understand the way of the Lord. Truly “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.”

The Lord sometimes chastens His servants in order to make them better ministers of His to comfort and encourage other saints in the midst of their trouble and sorrow. How much more sympathetic we can be towards our fellow saints when we ourselves have gone through trials of affliction similar to what they are going through. This draws us closer to each other in the bond of love.

The Lord often chastens us to make us more heavenly-minded. We are by nature earthly-minded. We seek the things of this world. Our life is often totally consumed with earthly pursuits and pleasures. How easily this steals our hearts from God and from heavenly pursuits. Through chastisement we learn again that we are only pilgrims and strangers in the world, just passing through. The Lord removes from us earthly treasures and keeps us from indulging in earthly pleasures because our hearts must be set upon the glorious heavenly inheritance that He has prepared for us.

The Lord chastens His children in order that they might be partakers of the fellowship of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is perhaps the most beautiful of all the purposes of the Lord in chastisement. Our Lord suffered and died for us. His suffering was an atoning suffering. No one ever suffered like He did, nor could any one ever suffer like He did. Through His suffering He paid the full penalty of our sin and accomplished all righteousness for us. None of our suffering is atoning suffering. We must never imagine such a thing lest we rob the cross of its glory. In our own suffering we learn more deeply to appreciate the great suffering of the Lord on our behalf and learn to love Him more. Especially when we suffer directly for the testimony of the Lord and because of our faith in Him we are drawn closer to Him. In this way we as Christians partake in the sufferings of the Lord. This is a wonderful privilege. It is an honor that we should be counted worthy to suffer for the name of the Lord. The Christian rejoices when he understand this.

The Bible exhorts us not to despise the chastening of the Lord. We are not to have a careless disregard for it. We must rather consider carefully and humbly how the Lord is dealing with us. We must not murmur and complain against the Lord and begin to criticize and judge the way of the Lord that it is evil. Through faith we must submit ourselves under the chastening hand of the Lord, believing and knowing that it is for our good and salvation and for His glory. It is a great sin to become bitter against the Lord because of how He chastens us in His great love. We avoid this when we meditate on the great purpose of His love as it is revealed in the gospel. We are not to receive the chastisement of the Lord merely passively or stoically without faith in God. But rather we are to endure the, Lords chastisement in patience and faith. Then we will be exercised by the chastisement of the Lord and it will make us strong to serve the Lord. When we endure chastisement it will bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

To have peace with God! What can be more wonderful and blessed! Those who are at peace with God enjoy His favor and loving-kindness. To walk in righteousness is the greatest good. The child of God through suffering learns obedience. Even the Lord Jesus, according to Hebrews 5, learned obedience by the things which He suffered. How much more needful this is for us.

By chastisement the Lord will make us partakers of His own holiness. Only when we have been made holy can we dwell with the Lord. The Lord has not promised that our lives on earth will always be full of joy and happiness. His great interest is not merely to make us happy, as some preachers today foolishly preach. He is more interested in making us holy. Holiness is more important than happiness. True and lasting joy can come only in the way of holiness. God makes us holy in order that He might prepare us for our place in heaven. Rejoice therefore when you are chastened of the Lord.

Present chastisement always seems grievous. It is hard to bear. The Lord knows that, and He is full of mercy to help us and give us the strength we need to endure it. We must not faint when the Lord chastens us. The Lord’s chastisement must not make us depressed and utterly discouraged. It must not destroy in us the joy and hope of the Christian life. The chastisement of the Lord must not make us forsake the Christian life or even become listless and careless in it. As we are chastened of the Lord we must continue faithfully and zealously to live the Christian life and to testify of the glory of the name of our God. By faith understand the Lord’s loving purpose and blessed end in chastening us. Our focus must not be on this world but ultimately on the glory and blessing for which the Lord is preparing us. The sorrow of our necessary chastisement will last only for a moment. The Lord calls us to endure unto the end. When finally He brings us to glory He will give us to understand how His way of chastisement was good and served the purpose of our eternal glory.