Trained by a faithful and loving Father

Hebrews 12:4-6 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Today, let’s take our encouragement from the end of verses 4-6. In light of the struggle his readers were having to endure difficulties and hardships in their lives and their great need to endure in faith until the end of their lives, he reminded them of an exhortation from Prov. 3:11-12 and a truth from Ps. 119:75. He thought they had forgotten them.  My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. We may be encouraged in our journey of love with Jesus that God will reprove us like a father reproves a son. That is what the author has been doing with his readers—reproving them for fainting, growing weary, and losing heart due to yielding to the sin of unbelief. Because they didn’t believe that everything comes from God and that He is a rewarder to those who seek Him, they had not practiced drawing near to the throne of grace for help in time of need. Therefore, God disciplined them or reproved them by not giving them grace to help. Being graceless in the storms of life left them carrying baggage as they ran their race, which was why they were growing weary and losing heart. His point in these verses was that they were not to take their gracelessness and weariness lightly. To do so would be to reject the Lord’s discipline and to loathe, hate, or abhor His training of them as His children. It would be to reject His love. This speaks to us today. How are we viewing our weariness and gracelessness in our trials? Are we in unbelief, griping, complaining, and blaming others, or are we realizing our loving Father in heaven is training us by the affliction of powerlessness? The word scourges means afflicts. Ps. 119:75 keeps us grounded when difficulties arise. God is righteous when He judges that we have unbelief in our hearts. He sees us clearly. So in love and faithfulness, He afflicts us with circumstances that bring out the unbelief so we can learn to draw near to Him for grace instead of trying to handle it ourselves. A child must learn to trust in the Lord with all his heart, as admonished in Prov. 3:5. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” How does the Lord train His children to trust Him? Through affliction, hardship, and suffering, we have our senses trained to discern good and evil responses to them.  Have you forgotten your Father’s exhortation to trust in Him with all your heart? Whatever trial you are going through, it has been sent to you in love, so you can experience His grace, for His glory, and the joy of the final reward with Him. You are being trained by a faithful and loving Father. So I encourage you today not to reject His loving discipline. Live to love with Him with confidence in His love, drawing near to Him for grace to love.