What is “the Chastening of the Lord?”

Does Chastening Mean Being Punished for Our Sins?

If you read the book of Hebrews, you will come to a passage about God chastening His children.  That might leave you puzzled.  In chapter 12, verses 5-11, we read about how God chastens or disciplines His children.  Wait a minute!  Didn’t Jesus already take our punishment for our sins?  Does this mean that God still will punish us after we have received His forgiveness?

In today’s devotion, let’s dig into this, asking God to help us understand what He means.

What is Chastening?

According to dictionary.com, the definition of chasten means: to inflict suffering upon for purposes of moral improvement; to chastise, or to restrain; subdue

Oooo, I don’t like the sound of that.

Online at blueletterbible.org, I found a meaning that I like better:  to discipline, train, educate

However, Hebrews 12:6 also contains the word scourges, which, according to Strong’s concordance, means to flog.  Ouch!  That implies that as part of our discipline and training, God may have to spiritually spank us.

The verse also indicates that every son (or daughter) of God receives chastening or scourging.

Think about times when your parents disciplined you.  I had a few spankings along the way.  Usually just a reminder that I would be spanked if I didn’t obey, quickly set me on the right track.  Punishments were not constant, but sometimes they were needed.

Likewise, God doesn’t keep us in a constant state of chastening.  It lasts for a season, achieves its purpose, and then ends.  He is not making us pay for our sins.  Instead, He is working to educate and train us to walk closely with Him.

Oh my!  I don’t want to go through discipline!

When you are going through a tough time, do you ever ask these questions?
Why is this happening to me?
Why hasn’t God taken care of this situation by now?
What does God want me to learn through this?                     

The answers to those questions might be found as we go through a time of discipline from the Lord.

In my case, I have discovered how impatient I tend to be.  The tools that God has used to reveal this to me have been needing to give daily personal care to my husband who has dementia.  This is time consuming and demands ongoing attention to him and his needs.  Also, as I help homeschool my three youngest grandchildren, I often see myself becoming impatient when they are not paying attention or cooperating as much as I want them to.  Therefore, I have been praying more about my impatience, asking God to help me have joy in the middle of these situations instead of dwelling on thoughts of how difficult these struggles are at times.

Not every difficult situation involves being disciplined by God.  Sometimes it’s just an opportunity to speak out our faith, pray, and watch God turn around the difficulty.  He is good and faithful, and He blesses us as we follow Him.

Chastening is a Sign

Thinking about God chastening us might be disturbing.  None of us likes to come under discipline.  It’s not fun!

Hebrews 12:7-8 indicates that every child of God goes through chastening from God.  Just as an earthly father, who truly loves his kids, deals out discipline (which might include spanking) when they misbehave, our Heavenly Father sometimes has to let us go through tough things as a means of training us in how to live in the way He wants us to.

Being disciplined by God is actually a sign that we are His children and that He loves us!  He is not venting His anger when we mess up.  Jesus already bore the wrath of God against sin as He hung on the cross.  Instead, God is pointing out to us areas of our lives which need to change.  Our difficult situation just might be the thing that drives us to spend more time with God, trusting Him to change us.

Hebrews 12:10 shows us that God’s goal is for us to become holy.  This is not something that we can do in our own strength.  Half the time, we don’t even see our own flaws.  So God allows us to go through things that make us aware of our weaknesses and our need to turn to Him for help.  That chastening process leads us into a closer relationship with Him and more dependance upon the Holy Spirit to take us through the process of becoming holy.

Willingly Accept God’s Discipline

This teaching in Hebrews is related to a simple statement given in Revelation 3:19:

I rebuke and chasten everyone whom I love.  Therefore, be zealous and repent.

We have a choice.  We can either resent that God is allowing us to go through difficulties, or we can use those situations as opportunities to seek Him, asking Him to reveal to us any sin or changes in our lives that He wants to show us.  Once He shows us, we should repent, turning away from sin and turning to Him to powerfully work in and through us.

by Karen S. Roberts

In the comments below, share about a time that you came under the chastening of the Lord and how it changed you.  What you share may help someone else who is going through a struggle.