Two nights ago, I had a conversation with someone I love very much. That’s what sparked this whole series of blogposts on Hebrews 12, actually, and verses 5-13 played a prominent part in our discussion. These verses focus on the subject of chastening.
Being able to endure chastening is a tight-rope walk in many respects. We easily misunderstand God’s purpose in sending it to us; we often don’t recognize it for what it is when it comes; even if we do recognize it, we are more than likely to be ungrateful for it; and for all of these reasons, we tend to react very poorly to it. Were we to understand, recognize, appreciate, and react positively to chastening, we would be greatly benefited.
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.
We are exhorted to “despise not...the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when...rebuked of him.”
So, let’s look up a few definitions.
DESPISE, v.t.
1. To contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have the lowest opinion of.
2. To abhor.
CHASTENING, n. Correction, punishment for the purpose of reclaiming.
“Despise” is a pretty strong word. We don’t really despise chastening, do we? Oh, yes we do! We don’t just undervalue chastening. We abhor it. It is our natural reaction to treat it with scorn and disdain. Why? Because it forces us to admit that we presently fight against God. Were that not so, we wouldn’t need correction and we wouldn’t need to be reclaimed, now, would we? And punishment? Some might be able to tolerate the idea of correction, but punishment? Not many people like the sound of that. But it is important to understand that there is a reason why the punishment is given—why he chastens us. It is to reclaim us. The fact is that, because of the role of man’s agency in salvation, he cannot reclaim us without chastening us.
Let’s look up a couple of more definitions before we leave verse 5:
FAINT, v.i.
2. To become feeble; to decline or fail in strength and vigor; to be weak.
3. To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit.
REBUKE, v.t.
3. To chasten; to punish; to afflict for correction.
I only quoted the definitions that I thought were the most appropriate here. “Rebuke” is synonymous with “chastening,” but “faint” adds another dimension to the admonition in verse five. It introduces another way in which we might incorrectly respond to the Lord’s chastening. Even when, and perhaps especially when, we appropriately value the chastening of the Lord, it is easy to feel weak and feeble. It is terribly easy to sink into dejection and lose courage and spirit. You have to guard against that when you encounter the Lord’s chastening, and you have to muster a great measure of strength to correct whatever the Lord tells you needs correcting. Because of the role of man’s agency in salvation, you can’t afford to faint.
The Lord’s chastening is a natural consequence of his love for us, and those who want to be received by him should expect a scourging.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
The parent-child relationship is drawn upon throughout scripture as a likeness of the relationship God has with us. One property of a correct relationship we should have with God is our ability to endure his chastening.
Good fathers chasten their children. It is obvious that children need discipline, correction, and even punishment. A father’s withholding of these things when the child is in need of them is detrimental to the child. Likewise, the child’s rejection of the correction is also detrimental. Verse 8 even goes so far as to say it is so true that all sons partake of chastening that, if the relationship is without chastisement, it is illegitimate.
God’s goodness far exceeds that of any earthly father, so it should be easy to subject ourselves to his correction and discipline. Earthly fathers are capable of making unintentional errors in judgment, at best, and of extending correction to their children for their own benefit, not necessarily for that of their children, at worst. God doesn’t do that. He is only ever interested in our betterment—our sanctification. For this reason, he is that much more worthy of much more of the honor we are commanded to give our earthly fathers. We shouldn’t need a commandment to honor God. Anyone who catches a glimpse of God’s goodness in offering to us what is always in our best interest and what comes at great cost to himself ought to forever honor and praise God for doing so and should eagerly subject themselves to him.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
There is a magnificent key to both avoiding unnecessary and unending grief and obtaining lasting happiness and joy in this verse. I know so many people who live their lives with grief running in the background. They make the “present...grievous” because they never move to “afterward.” The only way to get to “afterward” is to be “exercised” by the chastening.
People make the grievous present last way longer than it needs to by failing to fully employ the chastening that God has given them. God’s desire is not to make us miserable. That’s Satan’s desire, and he does that by causing us to despise or faint at God’s chastening. God wants us to appropriately value and quickly employ his correction so that the present becomes joyous, yielding “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” that can only be had when you submit yourself to his chastening.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
In the Greek, “turned out of the way” is translated as “put out of joint.” In other words, if you don’t respond appropriately to God’s chastening, things get worse. You don’t start reading Genesis and make it past the story of Cain’s rejection of God’s correction before you realize that. God would have us take what is weak in us and make it stronger. He desires for those things to be healed in us. He desires for us to be perfected and whole.