Would you like to have some bona fide evidence that the Lord loves you personally and especially? That would be better news than winning the lottery, wouldn't it? Well, maybe you can find out. Does He chasten you, reprove you? Does He remind you, convict you, of your sins and your weaknesses and your failures?
There's a special Hebrew word found in Psalm 73:14, that encompasses all those thoughts, and it might bring great encouragement to you if you can say Yes to my questions. The psalmist is praying and he says, "all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning." Listen to his prayer as it is in the Good News Bible: "O God, ... every morning you have punished me. ... I tried to think this problem through, but it was too difficult for me until I went into your Temple [sanctuary]. ... When my thoughts were bitter and my feelings were hurt, I was as stupid as an animal; I did not understand you. Yet ... you hold me by the hand. You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honor. What else do I have in heaven but you? Since I have you, what else could I want on earth?" (vss. 14-25).
Hebrews 12:6-8 picks up on this insight, saying: "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? If ye be without chastisement, ... then are ye illegitimate, and not sons."
In other words, the Lord is talking about DISCIPLINE. He is not punishing you in the sense of making you suffer for your sins, to pay a debt; that's the Hindu idea of karma. No, He is training you to stand in the time of trouble, to be a member of His parliament, of His cabinet, to sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21). And all that is the practical result of His work in the Most Holy Apartment, in the cleansing of the sanctuary--preparing a people for translation. His chastening is an evidence of His special love. Accept it!
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