Proverbs 3:1-12, God Hath Not Promised Skies Ever Blue!

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January 31, Proverbs 3:1-12

Heb. 12:5-6, 2 Cor. 12:8-10 “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19).

God Hath Not Promised Skies Ever Blue!

The verses 11-12 close this section, and also give a helpful correction to the notion that godliness brings automatic prosperity and perpetual happiness. It also provides a partial answer to the perplexing question as to why saints suffer. It is often God’s discipline at work. God’s saints need it while living in this sinful world. It is an action by which God brings repentance and renewed obedience. How we react is crucial. Some complain and others faint. The trial affects one too little and the other too much. Treat such trials as testings. It is thus our true self is revealed. “We must not be stocks, and stones, and stoics, under our afflictions, insensible of them, hardening ourselves under them” (M. Henry).

  1. No Fickle Caprice: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord (v.11a). Its source is the Heart of the God of all grace. It is this God who gives and takes away. Paul asks the Hebrews how they could have forgotten this gentle exhortation, My son, despise not thou (Heb. 12:5-6). To despise is to reject, the opposite of trust. It is to scorn, make light of. The Lord will not cast us off, but we may cast Him off, resentful of His chastening. This only breeds harmful bitterness. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty (Job 5:17).
  2. No Frivolous Cause: Neither be weary of his correction (v.11b). Sin is serious. It is the paramount source of all suffering. How thankful we should be that here we do not suffer in proportion to what our sins deserve! Only our Blessed Redeemer did that in His Passion and Death. Therefore, we are not to be Weary. This is a rare word meaning disgust, a sickening dread, and so become weary. Afflictions may be heavy and long, therefore, endure them patiently. They are, after all, for our good. This disgust is forbidden because whom God loves He rebukes and chastens. It is never easy to accept correction, but the one who lifts up his heart to God under it will find that he has laid hold on the help of the Mighty One.
  3. No Fiendish Cruelty: For whom the Lord loves, he corrects (v.12a). God means it for good, for through it He brings His children to repentance and renewed obedience. It acts like a medicine to the soul reminding all of the futility of life apart from God. It helps us to keep “eternity’s values in view.” God is never vindictive! He is the heavenly Father, correcting His child, whom He loves. “Most precious at all times, especially under correction, is the privilege of adoption – My son” (Bridges). It must not on that account be despised or scorned, which would make the discipline useless. The chastening is not to give pleasure to God, but to make His children wise and good, and prepare them for Glory which He has determined from before all time. “Choice flowers bloom in the garden of affliction.”

Thought: As threshing separates corn from chaff, so affliction purifies virtue.

Prayer: Lord, when I smart under Thy rod, help me to learn Thy lesson.