FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVETH
Tuesday – July 10, 2018, Tamuz 27, 5778
Once again greetings and welcome back to this faith building study of the Word of God from Hebrews. Remember, your faith is built only if you receive the Word for the express purpose of making it your own and acting upon it. The featured picture today was taken last fall and reveals a portion of downtown Waterville, Maine. Now let’s dive into our lesson by first reviewing the primary text reading it aloud.
Hebrews 12:5-7 (KJV)
5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
I think in our modern world we are put off by the terms chastening and scourging but in this context of Scripture it is talking of being taught. We may bristle at or discard things people are teaching contrary to our established belief system. We must recognize that there are things we believe, we think upon, we speak, and we act upon which allows, even invites adversity into our lives. We may have even learned these things in Church, we may have observed other Christians doing the same and assumed it was right with the Lord. The Lord is working day and night to correct us so the adversity can be driven out and we can be in rest. Marriages, friendships, and Churches have been destroyed by a failure to receive correction when it is offered. God will not just offer us correction once then stomp off if we refuse, He will bring it to us in multiple ways because He loves us. He wants to delight in us and us in Him. He wants to see us successful in the Kingdom and in life just as we desire these things for our natural children. As we continue this study let’s take a look at a passage from Job. If anyone knew something about adversity it had to be Job.
Job 5:15-17 (KJV)
15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
What saves the poor? The correction of the Lord, the chastening of the Almighty. The correction of the Lord stops the mouth of iniquity or iniquity from coming out of our mouth. When iniquity comes from our mouth we ourselves loose stealing, killing, and destroying into our lives. Gods correction saves us from our own mouths! Our own mouths, thoughts, bring the sword of the curse into our lives and gives license to the evil ones and those they motivate (the mighty). We see others as mighty only when we see ourselves as grasshoppers. The reality is that for the obedient child of God all outside the Kingdom of God should be as grasshoppers to us. The Job 5 text tells us that the correction of the Lord saves the poor, give hope to the poor, and brings happiness. I will now take a moment and address this word “poor” for a moment. The Scripture is not talking about only financial poorness but all sorts of poorness. Poorness or being poor at its root is a spiritual issue. There can be people who are financially very rich but are very poor in the spiritual area of their life. The spiritual area of life is far and away the most important sphere of our lives. Salvation comes to the whole man but first to the spirit man. Salvation is the difference between spending eternity in Heaven or Hell. We use this term, the word “poor” in our modern vernacular as well in a variety of contexts. For example, let’s say a man leaves his wife, we might say of the wife “that poor woman”. We are not talking about her financial situation but that she is poor concerning her marriage. We hear that someone was diagnosed with cancer, we might say “oh that poor man”. Again, we are not talking about his financial situation but that he is poor in health. As our study of this topic is coming to an end for today let’s consider the following Scripture.
Proverbs 3:7-12 (KJV)
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
When we are haughty and prideful, the fall is not far away. It is evil in and of itself and invites our spiritual enemies into our lives. Elsewhere in Scripture we are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fearing or highly esteeming the Lord, His Word, and departing from our own arrogance and pride will bring health into all areas of life (spiritual and natural). The chastening of the Lord is an expression of His love. Remember, Bible (agape) love is obedience to the Word of God, selflessness, and observance of The Blood Covenant. God is certainly selfless and certainly aware of the Blood Covenant and He is as obligated to teach us the Word as we are to do it and teach others as well. We have an absolute obligation to honor Him by listening and doing. Hopefully, it is becoming more and more clear that this chastening is really something we need to seek out and invite into our lives. Most of us balk at criticism but that is of our carnal nature and the nature of our previous spiritual father, Satan. I am talking about Godly criticism, things that strengthen us in the Kingdom of God, raise us up as sons of God.
Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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