Were you aware that God actually is known to ‘chasten’ those whom He loves? (Hebrews 12:5-6). We are even admonished there to not ‘despise these chastening’s’. The writer goes on to explain that if we resist or refuse these chastening’s, or are not even receiving them, then we are ‘illegitimate and not sons’. {8} The KJV uses a bolder term there. Oh, one other thing I should point out which in a way is not really surprising, but this ‘chastening will not be joyful and actually painful’. (11) And yet, there is a reason for it: it leads to our sanctification/holiness and...’without this holiness, no one will see the Lord’. (14). So there is that.

If you have been reading here of late, you may recall the warning Paul wrote in Acts 13:40, citing an OT prophet by the name of Habakkuk. We learned in his first chapter that God actually raises up, or uses the ‘enemy’ to ‘judge and chasten/correct’ His people. (Hab. 1:12). In other words, God takes us out to the proverbial ‘wood shed’ when we refuse to do things His way. And instead of a peach tree limb or even His ‘belt’, God uses the powers of darkness, Satan and his minions, to get our attention, and not... in pleasant ways.

Do you find that hard to believe and not ‘fitting with your modern day concept’ of how God operates? That is not surprising, actually. Let me offer up several passages here today for you to examine and study yourself. Do you recall Paul admonishing the church at Corinth to forgive a certain individual who had been practicing some immoral sin? First of all, take a look at 1 Cor. 5:5 and read who Paul was advising this man be handed over to. And what was the purpose of this? (1 Tim. 1:12)  Also, what is Satan known to do according to John 10:10?

Now, while we are in 1 Cor., take a look, once again, and read 11:27-32 and please make note of those last three verses. So let’s move on to the second letter and read how Paul was advising the church there to respond to this man who must have truly repented. This is a good thing, yes? Were you aware that God brings/allows His wrath and judgments and chastisements so that we will be humbled and repent and turn to Him? And what advice does Paul share there in 2 Cor. 2:6-11? He warns them about not falling into the trap now of not forgiving this person, given how we are not ‘ignorant of Satan’s devices’. In other words, holding on to grudges and not forgiving others ‘gives place to the devil’. (Eph. 4:27) And we know what the devil comes to do- John 10:10. (I have reasons for citing this verse often)

If by chance, you are having a hard time processing this because it doesn’t seem to fit with the ‘loving Jesus’ you learned about, may I direct your attention to another lesson Jesus taught in Matt. 18, regarding the danger of not ‘forgiving from our hearts’. What did He tell us we could expect the Father to do with us? (32-35). Care to take a guess as to what ‘tormentors’ do? They ‘torment’.

Friends...here’s the good news: In the same way that God sent His word to heal His people who fell into sin and suffered back in the OT, (Ps. 107:20) God also sent Jesus (The Word) to heal and deliver all those who were/are oppressed by the devil. (Acts 10:38; Matt. 9:35). And God has never changed.(Mal. 3:6) The question we need to ask ourselves is: “Do we want to be made well?” (John 5:6). But that too, comes with a warning, which you can read in vs. 14 there – “Go and sin no more or else...”? See you tomorrow, Lord willing? ;-)