Posted by: Brittany
“When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou
makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:
surely every man is vanity.”
-Psalm 39:11
“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be
weary of his correction: For whom the
LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth.” -Proverbs 3:11,12
“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: For
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? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof
all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 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? 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. 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. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down,
and the feeble knees; And make straight
paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let
it rather be healed.” -Hebrews 12: 5-13
“How is it with your heart this morning? Are you in the
lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your spirit, and grace
seem like a poor spark trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you?
Fear not, it is neither your graces nor feelings on which you are to live: you
must live simply by faith on Christ. With all these things against us, now—in
the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we may be—now, as much in the
valley as on the mountain, "Beloved, now are we the sons of
God." "Ah, but," you say, "see how I am arrayed! my graces
are not bright; my righteousness does not shine with apparent glory." But
read the next: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." The Holy Spirit
shall purify our minds, and divine power shall refine our bodies, then shall we
see Him as He is.”
-Charles Spurgeon
In order for us to be filled with the righteousness and
beauty of Christ, the Lord will first strip of us our own goodness, and show us
our total worthlessness and helplessness.
Until we see this, we cannot experience the grace and freedom of Christ.
I truly believe that the Lord brings us to the point of
failure and humiliation to show us how worthless we are in ourselves, and how
utterly dependent we are on Him. He does
not want us walking in our strength to be the good and upright person we know
we should be, and even desire to be. If
we are doing that, He will bring us down.
I struggled for years, wanting to be someone and something I knew deep
down I was not. God had to bring me to a
breaking point.
He wants it to be His righteous goodness that shines forth
in our lives. That only comes as we
surrender in utter helplessness to Him; seeking His forgiveness for the sinful
creatures we really are deep down that no one else sees, and asking Him to
change us and fill us with Christ. Then He has created a vessel that He can use
to honor Him!
So if you feel that you are being severely chastened by the
Lord, take joy! He is purging the dross
from your life, so that He can fill you with Christ! You are His beloved child. He will not leave you to struggle on your own
in your own efforts. He wants to empty
you of self and fill you with Christ.
The purging process is not enjoyable at the moment, but when we come to
see it for what it truly is –the love of our Father at work in us- it will
bring us comfort and courage, and more quickly bring us to the point of being
empty vessels before Him.
There is an initial breaking point, but this process is life
long. Every rod and trial is a blessing
and instrument of love from our Lord. He
will be faithful to complete the good work He has begun in each of us. He will fill us with Christ. He will use us for His glory.
Is He truly our master?
Are we trying to walk in ourselves or are we on our knees in His loving,
molding hand? He will direct the paths
of His children. He will continue to
purge us. And as He does His
transforming work in us, He will show us how to serve and love Him by serving
and loving those He places around us.
Then we will shine as lights before men, and they will see our good
works and glorify our Father in heaven.
“..out of weakness were made strong…” -Hebrews 11:34
“Now when they saw… and perceived… they marveled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” -Acts 4:13
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to
him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
-Matthew 7:7,8
