“… My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Hebrews 12:5, 6).
Ever since the days of Job saints in all ages (and of all ages), in all places and in all circumstances have been asking the question, Why hath the Lord dealt so with me?
“God is love.” Calvary forbids the slightest shade of a shadow of a doubt to cross the mind concerning His love. We sing:
Not for those who ever loved Him
Jesus came to bleed and die;
Pity for the sinner moved Him,
Who that hears it can deny “God is love”?
Why then does He cause grief, allow hearts to bleed, and tears to stain the cheeks? Faith answers thus, “Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Matthew 11:26).
In the pages of this pamphlet we shall examine the subject of Divine Chastening, and shall trace several reasons why the hand of God in affliction is laid upon His saints.
Much of what is written herein has been the author’s oral ministry on the subject. God has been pleased to add His blessing to the messages. In the hope that blessing may come to a larger circle of His people it is put into print. It leaves our hands with an earnest prayer that the God of all comfort will use it to comfort the hearts of His own.
D. Kirk
Hamilton, Canada,
1955.