Part 2 The Chastening of Love
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But all the afflictions of the believer are the effects of Divine love. They can resolve themselves into nothing else. While the same stroke, falling upon an unbelieving, rebellious, sin-loving sinner, may be the first-fruits of eternal punishment, to the saint of God it may prove the first-fruits of eternal glory. The correction which you at present consider as an argument of wrath, may be an evidence of love and an act of mercy. God will prune you, but not hew you down. The 'right hand of His mercy' knows what the 'left hand of His severity' is doing. Better for you to be a chastened son, than an undisciplined child of the devil. Oh yes! there was no anger, no vindictiveness, no vengeance in that heavy stroke which laid your heart's fondest treasure in the dust. Love smote, but love yearned while it smote.
The Lord's love likewise appears in appointing the rebuke and in tempering the chastisement. That rebuke might have been heavier, that chastisement might have been severer. The deep and dark waters might have engulfed the soul. The language of the chastising Father is most tender. "I will not make a full end of you: but I will correct you in measure." Thus perhaps your prayer has been answered, "O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing." And then has followed the pleasant psalm of grateful acknowledgment and praise: "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." O could we always analyze the cup, how astonished should we be to find that in the bitterest draught that ever touched our lips, the principal ingredient was love! That love saw the discipline needful, and love selected the chastisement sent, and love appointed the instrument by which it should come, and love arranged the circumstances by which it should take place, and love fixed the time when it should transpire, and love heard the sigh and saw the tear and marked the anguish, and never for one moment withdrew its beaming eye from the sufferer.
Alas! how much is this truth overlooked by the disciplined believer! Think, suffering child of God, of the many consoling, alleviating, and soothing circumstances connected with your chastisement. How much worse your position might be, how much more aggravated the nature of your sorrow, and how much heavier the stroke of the rod. Think of the disproportion of the chastisement to the sin, for "know that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves." Think of the many Divine supports, the precious promises, the tenderness of God, the gentleness of Christ, the sympathy and affection dwelling in the hearts of the saints- and all this will demonstrate to you that the chastisement of the saints is the chastening of love.
Before proceeding to the next chapter, which will trace the sanctified results of God's loving correction, we would remark- how great the dignity and precious the privilege of chastened believers! They are the children of God. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Angels, bright, sinless angels, stand not so closely and endearingly related to God as they. Wonderful love of God! that He should not think it a dishonor to own them as His sons, and to call Himself their Father, who by nature are the children of wrath, slaves to Satan, and the servants of sin. How great our dignity! Seek, reader, to know it, to enjoy it, to live to it. If there has been no sealing of your adoption upon the heart, give the Holy Spirit no rest until there is. If, in the holy, humble confidence of faith, there never has been an 'Abba, Father,' upon your lip, as one professing to be a child, and soon to be in eternity, it is time that there should be. Seek it earnestly, seek it importunately, seek it believingly, and you will have it. "You shall call me, my Father." "If I then be a Father," says the same God, "where is my honor?" Have you ever honored Him, loved Him, obeyed Him, glorified Him as your Father? Seek, O seek it with your whole soul. Bending over you, the Spirit of adoption waits to impress the great seal upon your heart. Loving you, the Father yearns to clasp you to His bosom, assuring you that you are His loved, pardoned, accepted child. As the loved, then, whom the Lord rebukes and chastens, let our carriage be that of children, even as His discipline is that of a Father. Let us receive the correction with meekness, and hear the voice of the Lord with reverence, since God is parental and loving in all His conduct towards His saints.
Nor let us fail to remember for our comfort that all the chastisement of the children of God are on this side of heaven. "We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world." Not so with the ungodly. Sinner! unconverted soul! you may laugh now, and sport now, and rejoice now, but remember- your chastisement is to come! Your condemnation is to come! Your stripes are to come! All your real woe is to come. It is coming now, it comes fast, it is near at hand, even at your door- for there is but a step between you and hell! and have you ever thought what it must be to lie down in eternal torment, what it must be to meet an angry God, to confront a despised Savior? To take the fearful plunge without one ray of hope- a starless, sunless, hopeless eternity? O happy if the Eternal Spirit so bless to your soul the perusal of this page as to awaken you to a solemn, an honest and earnest seeking of the Lord; to give up your procrastinations, your waiting for a more convenient season- your worldly excuses- your refuges of lies- the sparks of your own kindling in which you must lie down in sorrow- your dream of a future, a death-bed repentance; and casting all aside, hastening as a poor, lost, dying sinner to Christ, exclaiming, "I am a dying man! I need a Savior! I need the influence of the Holy Spirit to reveal that Savior, to lead me to that Savior, and to tell me that Savior is mine."
But no future sorrow awaits the children of God beyond the grave. They are chastened now, that they may not be condemned hereafter. All to come is joy and gladness, is purity and bliss. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." O learn from this subject that you are not less the object of God's love because He corrects you. The suspicion has, perhaps, pressed coldly and darkly upon your heart, "He cannot love me, and force this nauseous cup to my lip." Hush that murmur! Be still that thought! and know, O chastened child, O daughter of sorrow, that God is love; and because you are His loved child, His loving correction now makes you great. Then, in the words of your suffering Head, say, "The cup that my Father has given me, shall not I drink it?"
"Yes, Lord, Your chastening hand is good,
Though painful now to flesh and blood,
It is my Father's voice of love,
His strength to show, my faith to prove."
"And shall a murmuring thought arise
Against my God, most good, most wise
My God, who has engaged to grant
Supplies of grace for every want?"
"No! rather would I, meek and mild,
Sit at His feet His chastened child,
And learn of Him my cross to bear,
Transformed into His image fair."
"I hear His voice in gentle strains
Soothing my sorrows and my pains,
My love I will not from you take,
Nor for one moment you forsake."
"While you are in the furnace held,
My strength shall be your help and shield;
And your support my arm shall be,
I will be near and solace thee."
"Do you forget the wounds for you
I bore upon the accursed tree?
Did not my love for you atone?
Then, think not you are all alone!"
"Soon will I come, and take you home,
To reign with me upon my throne;
Soon shall your tears be dried away,
In glory's cloudless, endless day.
"Then, Lord, my chastened spirit take,
Wholly renew it for Your sake;
May now Your image in me shine,
And fit me for the life divine."
"And whatsoever Your will may be,
That must be love that comes from Thee;
To You I would my will resign,
My heart, my life, dear Lord, are Thine."
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