3 For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: 5 and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons,
      My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,
      Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
6     For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,
      And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11 All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; 13 and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed.

      It is hard to believe in God's love and care when we are troubled. That goodness and mercy follow us in the bright, happy days of life, we gladly acknowledge, chiefly because we think we can see it; but the assurance that "goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives"--more especially in regard to the dark days--only faith can maintain. Sight fails us there. That calamities and sufferings work for our good is not often apparent. We think they injure us; at least, they might have been avoided. If we are under the shadow of his wing, it seems God could and would protect us from misfortunes. We feel tempted to distrust him. At any rate, we are inclined to distrust ourselves--the sincerity of our faith, the reality of our religion. God seems to have left us. Something must be wrong. Then comes the danger of throwing away our boldness and our confidence and hope, to become unfaithful, and perhaps apostatize altogether. Against this danger all these exhortations in Hebrews are directed. Hold fast! Do not be discouraged. Cast not away your boldness. Do not shrink back. Continue steadfastly, firmly, patiently unto the end. Come or go what may, hold to your faith, to your gospel, your God, your Savior. Through fire and flood, through tempests and earthquakes, keep your good courage and loyalty to your Lord. These things, far from proving that God is not with us, show that you are accepted in his army of soldiers, sufferers, and martyrs. These afflictions invariably accompany such acceptance, and are a proof in themselves that God regards us as his own (Matthew 5:10-12).

      With one voice the Scriptures, old and new, declare this strange and consoling fact. Just in the preceding chapter there is an enumeration of sufferings endured in faith by men of faith, to whom God bore witness. Jesus, the very Son of God himself, stands for an example of sufferings and afflictions; and God's pleasure rested upon him always in all fullness. In the midst of the conflict, Jesus knew that God had given his angels charge concerning him, to keep him in all his ways to bear him up in their hands lest he dash his [65] foot against a stone. He knew that nothing could happen to him, except as the father ordered it, and that no real and final harm could possibly befall him. See the many passages that tell us that we must "suffer with him." The apostles considered it a great privilege (Acts 5:41). Paul spoke of it as though it were a special favor granted (Philippians 1:29). He emphatically assures all of us who have come to Christ that all things work together for our good; that in tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us; and that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8).

      The words in this lesson are very plain, and need no comments. We can, however, arrive at a better understanding by directing our attention to a few items. The first admonition is: "Regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord." If you do, you will lose the benefit of it. Human wisdom and philosophy offer all kinds of false refuges from sorrow. There is a modern stoicism, illustrated in "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," which is the old heathen stoicism revamped, painted here and there with a very thin coating of Christian sentiment, all of which, after all, amounts to but little more than deadened feelings and callousness of heart. Or there is the "New Thought" philosophy of which Ella Wheeler Wilcox is an exponent, which exalts self-confidence in the place of faith, ignores trouble and danger, and lives in a blind, happy expectation of good. It borrows from Emerson, Plato, and the heathen Epicurean doctrines; adapts the despairing optimism of Omar Khayam. The world's crude remedy for trouble is: Shake it off; travel, visit, laugh, sing, work--anything to drown out the pain and forget; by pessimism, optimism, fatalism, or in whatever way possible to remove its sting. These are the poisonous potions human doctors recommend to the heartsick. God's remedy is signally different. You must not despise his discipline nor regard it lightly. Jesus would take no stupefying draught to allay the sufferings on the cross. Why should he seek to escape that which his wise and good Father saw best to lay upon him? "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I nor drink it?" There is no ignoring of its darkness, no effort at indifference or deadening of sensibilities. Witness Gethsemane.

      On the other hand, the admonition comes: "Nor faint when thou art reproved of him," This is the other extreme. To faint is to give up in discouragement or despair. God wants us to conquer in these things--not, as the world would teach us, evade them. To this end he gives us these blessed assurances:

      (1) He loves us. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." Our affliction is from him--not accidental, not wanton, not needless. "For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." (Lamentations 3:33). His love also assures of his sympathy. "In all their distress he too was distressed" (Isaiah 63:9). "His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel" (Judges 10:16).

      (2) The very fact that we are disciplined is the foundation of hope and joy; it proves that we are sons (Hebrews 12:7, 8). "All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).

      (3) He is good and wise. If we need to be disciplined, who can do it better than God? He knows just when, where, how, how much--not one stroke too many. He is our good and all-wise Father in heaven; let us take affliction as from him in childlike confidence and submission.

      (4) He disciplines us for our profit--not to let out irritation or satisfy his wrath on us, as sometimes do earthly fathers. He has a living purpose. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every (branch) that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:2). If we are to enjoy him and live together with him forever, we must become holy, as he is holy. So he disciplines us that we may be partakers of his holiness. It is well to note here that discipline does not primarily imply the idea of punishment for sin. Though it may include that, its first meaning is "purifying." These hardships and sufferings strengthen and purify the soul. The best men of earth have been children of adversity. "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." (Lamentations 3:27). Again: "This third [of the people] I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold." All their dross will he consume. And during that time of discipline God will be especially near to his people, their stay and comfort. "They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.'" (Zechariah 13:9; compare Psalms 23:4.)

      (5) There will be good and happy results--peaceable fruit of righteousness to all that have profited by God's discipline. The Christian's suffering has a background of true hope. It is the very means to our final salvation from all sin and grief forever. "For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). "God's ways," says Martin Luther, "are like a Hebrew book: one must read them backward to understand them." But if you go to the end and look backward--lo, the past sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that meets your view. There they who came out of great tribulation stand, clothed in white robes and palms in their [66] hands, before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. He that sits upon the throne spreads his tabernacle over them. They hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun cannot strike them, nor any heat; the Lamb himself is their Shepherd and guides them unto fountains of water of life. "And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes."

      Let us be of good courage, and lift up the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Jesus said: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." We also shall overcome in him and through him, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, for he is faithful that promised.

      Our Father in heaven, forgive us if in our ignorance we have murmured against you because you discipline us. We know now that all your dealings with us are only goodness and mercy, and you love us even as you love your Son, Jesus Christ. Keep you before our minds these eternal truths concerning your love and tender sympathy. May we never doubt them. Whatever comes upon us, may we see your hand in it, and may your love and your nearness make every sorrow sweet. In all our sufferings grant us your comfort also; and may we, like your servant Paul, learn the secret to be "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." We are very thankful to be in the hands of a Father who works for our interest in wisdom and love, who directs all our affairs, and who gives us tears and smiles in due season for our greatest profit and usefulness. Guide us, Holy Father, the more as we place our lives more fully and perfectly into your hands. Preserve us from the corroding sorrow of the world, which works death. Be you the administrator of our discipline and sanctifier of our grief. Teach us to neither regard it lightly nor to faint under it, that we may be exercised thereby; and having been made partakers of your holiness, may we rejoice in unspeakable glory before you through all eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

      Who is sanctified? (made holy).

      Why does he yet tell us to "make every effort to be holy?"

      What kind of man was Esau, and wherein did he do wrong? [67]

[LOH3R 65-67]