note: I have been reading through the book of Isaiah with the specific purpose of studying GOD’s holy character and Person. As far as this particular devotional applies to the Christian, one needs to also read Hebrews 12 and understand God’s ways and means of chastising His children for the purpose of bringing forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
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I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
(Isa 47:6-11)
The Lord used Babylon as an instrument to pour out His wrath upon His people for their sins. The Lord did the same thing with the Chaldeans.
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
(Hab 1:6)
Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
(Hab 1:12)
Although the prophet Habakkuk recognized the hand of the Lord in using the Chaldeans, he was puzzled at how the Lord could use so wicked a people.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
(Hab 1:13)
The Lord is righteous in all of His acts and He knows how to fill the earth with His glory (Hab. 2:14) and show the nations that they are but men. He did punish the Babylonians and the Chaldeans for their cruelty towards His people. The Lord will chastise and even destroy the instruments of wrath that He uses on His own children. And He does so because of the manner in which those instruments did His work, for their cruelty and lack of mercy towards the weak.
The Lord will judge His people and He will judge those who are not His people but who do His will.
The Lord will use the righteous and the unrighteous to chastise you. Pray for the Lord to bless them. They stand in a fearful place of being judged by the Lord for the manner in which they do His will in your life.
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Quotes on Chastisement from the Puritans:
Chastisement is designed for our good, to promote our highest interests. Look beyond the rod to the All-wise hand that wields it!
—Arthur W. Pink
For a Christian to defy adversities is to “despise” chastisement. Instead of hardening himself to endure stoically, there should be a melting of the heart.
—Arthur W. Pink
Whatsoever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon, God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it; so that we find the readiest course to be rid of our comforts is to set our hearts inordinately upon them.
—John Flavel
God’s wounds cure, sin’s kisses kill.
—William Gurnall
Better be pruned to grow than cut up to burn.
—John Trapp
Thou art beaten that thou mayest be better.
—John Bunyan
Especially look to those sins to which your crosses have some reference and respect. Are you crossed in your goods? Think if you did not over-love them and get them unjustly, or if in your children, see if you did not over-love them and cocker them, and so in all things of like kind. In what God smites vou, see if you have not in that sinned against Him, and so frame to lament your sins and to seek help against them.
—William Whately
God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures. God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child’s garments.
—William Gurnall
No marvel if the worldling escape earthly afflictions. God corrects him not. He is base born and begot. God will not do him the favour to whip him. The world afflicts him not, because it loves him: for each man is indulgent to his own. God uses not the rod where He means to use the Word. The pillory or scourge is for those malefactors that shall escape execution.
—Joseph Hall
