SEEING YOUR TRIALS THROUGH THE FATHERS LOVE

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,nor be weary when reproved by him.For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,and chastises every son whom he receives."It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV

I have had a year full of trials, loss, discouragements, and disappointments. I would like to say that I have always trusted God, endured patiently, stayed at peace and full of hope. Frankly, at times I have felt like I am on a boat ready to capsize in the storm and have been full of fear, anxiety, and depression. That is why I am thankful for the word of God and when I have turned back to the Lord His word has given me ballast for my boat to endure and ride through the storms of my life. Hebrews 12 is one of those parts of the bible that can really help when your life seems dark, foreboding, and uncertain.

The writer declares that God sovereignly governs our adversaries and circumstances and that there is a plan and design of God in all of this. The text is wonderfully clear on this. Verse 6: "Those whom the Lord loves he disciplines." The design of God for your life is love. "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24). Oh how we need to remind ourselves the truth that our pain is not the effect of God's hate, but of God's love. We cannot prove that we are being disciplined because of God’s love to anyone, or even to ourselves, except by faith.

Often times the blessings of God’s loving discipline are exceedingly well disguised, so well disguised that we, and often times no one else cannot see the slightest hint of possible good in them. I can attest to that! We have no insight into God’s secret workings and purposes at the moment except the eyes of faith in God’s loving purposes. Faith proves it. Faith not only believes in God; faith believes God! Faith BELIEVES it is so when God says so and then ACTING like it is so. Faith’s logic is very simple: “We are God’s children. God loves His children and is bound by his own nature and covenant promises to do them only good. Therefore, whatever we receive from God’s sovereign hand, including discipline, is from God’s love.

We may be confident that nothing ultimately bad will ever happen to those who belong to Jesus. That doesn’t mean nothing painful won’t happen. Our hearts may be broken a thousand times in this world, and our bodies wracked with pain. But those things are all part of God loving discipline. Paul tells us to be “rooted and grounded in God’s love” (Ephesians 3:11). That is, to have a settled assurance that God cannot do anything apart from or contrary to His love for us. Spurgeon said, “God is too good to be unkind. He is too wise to be confused. If I cannot trace His hand, I can always trust His heart”

Verse 7 reinforces the Father’s disciplining love for you: "It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons." In other words, in your pain, you are not being treated as a slave or as an enemy. You are being treated and raised as a dearly beloved child of God. God has obligated Himself to redeem, love, protect, and bless you. “My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," (Isaiah 54:10). The issue is: will you believe this? Will you let the Word of God settle the issue for you, so that when the suffering comes, you don't turn on God or from God and put him in the dock and prosecute him with accusations? He probably will not tell you why it is your turn, or why it is happening now, or why there is this much pain, or why it lasts this long. But he has told you what you need to know: it is the love of an all-wise Father to a child. Will you trust him? As the hymn writer Lena Sandell Berg writers, "

Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here; trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best, lovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and with rest.

But God is even willing to tell us more. Verses 10b-11, "He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness…to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Four words of divine purpose in God’s loving discipline for your life: our good, our holiness, our peace, and our righteousness. Oh how good is God. Oh how purposeful is what you are going through when under discipline. This is the design of our loving Father that comes to us painfully and mysteriously through the hostility of sinful adversaries and the natural hazards of a fallen world.

Verse 9b poses our concluding question: Will we "be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?" The only way to experience the abundant life (John 10:10) that Christ promises is to submit and surrender to God’s loving and purposeful discipline right now. Submit to the place God has you and you will truly live! By faith let this be your new battle cry:

“Let the rains of disappointment come, if they water the plants of spiritual grace. Let the winds of adversity blow, if they serve to root more securely the trees that God has planted. I say, let the sun of prosperity be eclipsed, if that brings me closer to the true light of life. Welcome sweet discipline, discipline designed for my joy, discipline designed to make me what God wants me to be.”

Dear Christian your life is not a mistake. This is not a parenthesis or appendage. Right now counts forever! If we submit to this sovereign, loving, fatherly care, we will not "grow weary and lose heart," but we will grow into maturity and keep the faith, fight the good fight, and finish our course, and die well, and glorify our Father in heaven.

Let me conclude with the poem by William Cowper. Please read it slowly and thoughtfully and let the Father minister His love, grace, and mercy to you:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace; behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast Unfolding every hour; the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain

Pastor Bill