CONDITIONS OF CHASTISEMENT

Most all of us have experienced something that left us saying,”This is unfair” or “This was unnecessary”,or This was of no benefit”. Let’s face it, some things just don’t make any sense to our way of thinking. God, however, sees much more than we do and is much wiser than we are. That which seems senseless to us makes perfectly good sense to God. He alone knows what is truly needful.

Peter spoke of this when he wrote—“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temtations.”–1 Peter 1:6

Notice the words,”if need be“. They speak volumes. Listen to what John MacDuff wrote regarding this phrase:

Three gracious words! Not one of all my tears has been shed for nothing! Not one stroke of the rod has been unneeded — or might have been spared! Your heavenly Father loves you too much, and too tenderly, to bestow harsher correction than your case requires!

Is it loss of health — or loss of wealth — or loss of beloved friends? Be still! there was a needs be! We are no competent judges of what that “needs be” is; often through aching hearts we are forced to exclaim, “Your judgments are a great deep!” But God here pledges Himself, that there will not be one unnecessary thorn in the believer’s crown of suffering. No burden too heavy will be laid on him; and no sacrifice too great will be exacted from him. He will “temper the wind — to the shorn lamb.”

Whenever the “need be” has accomplished its end — then the rod is removed, the chastisement suspended, and the furnace quenched.

“If need be!” Oh! what a pillow on which to rest your aching head — that there is not a drop in all your bitter cup — but what a God of love saw to be absolutely necessary! Will you not trust His heart — even though you cannot trace the mystery of His dealings? Not too curiously prying into the “WHY it is?” or “HOW it is?” — but satisfied that “SO it is,” and, therefore, that all must be well!