| The Way of Victory |
Chapter 1 |
Page 4 |
When we groan under God’s chastening hand we need to remind ourselves that “whom the Lord loveth He correcteth.” We are apt to put it just the other way. Children sometimes think that their parents are unkind when they are very strict with them, when they forbid them certain pleasures or privileges, or when they punish them for things they do. “My father does not love me, or he would not be so severe with me,” a boy says. Then he points to another boy whose father lets his son do as he pleases, go wherever he wants to go, have anybody he likes for companion, who never restrains or corrects him. “That father loves his boy and is always kind to him,” he says. Well, so it may seem just at the time. The loving father appears to be one who never interferes with his son’s desire or pleasure; and the father who is so rigid with his son really appears to be unkind, even unloving. But we soon learn how mistaken is our thought in this matter. The truly loving father is the one who restrains and corrects and chastens if need be.
Just to be left alone, to have no chastening, no correction, no restraining or withholding, is not a mark of love. A father who does thus with his son is simply letting him go to destruction unhindered. The one who corrects and chastens is intent on saving his son. Chastening is, therefore, a proof of love. God chastens us because He wants to save us and make something of us. It should be a comfort to us to know when we have troubles, trials, or afflictions that instead of being a proof that God does not love us it is just the reverse a new assurance to us of our heavenly Father’s tender affection and deep interest in us. The man who learns these things cannot fail of happiness.
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