THE FATHER'S DISCIPLINE
THE FATHER’S DISCIPLINE
We must know what it is to be delivered unto death in some way or another; the sense of the perishing of the outer man must be deepened in us. Wherever the roots most extend, and where natural energy would most work, there death must come in the more. Every trial is, I believe, to correct a budding of the crab tree, the old life. Nothing shows or testifies so much the Father’s interest about us as the way He uses circumstances to detach us from things which He in His holiness would have us apart from; and hence, wherever there is a root or a tendency going out into the world, or nature which is the world in miniature, He allows some one or something to vex and hurt us in that rootlet in order to teach us how to draw in, and that there is danger there. There was a growth there, and it should have been mortified; and if we have not done so, we suffer through the very thing we had not repressed, and we are made aware that there was a growth where we had not perceived it ourselves. How many things try and annoy us every day which are not really for Christ’s sake! All these when carried to God are solved by the simple fact that they were necessary, as intimating to us that there was some proud flesh which required the caustic; and not only this, but while personally painful to us, the very trial corroborates in our hearts the depth and constancy of His love and care for us.
The Father’s discipline, through circumstances here, is to me one of the most wonderful displays of the Father’s love. Physiologists tell us that the presence of pain is an indication that there is something wrong with the constitution, and that measures should be taken to remove it, in order that the vitality be not hindered; for the tendency of the heart is to direct its energies to the suffering part, and thus weaken itself, while increasing the inflammation where there is disorganisation [p. 73] Now with the christian it is just the contrary; wherever there is pain (unless for Christ’s sake) there is quick flesh, and the pain or suffering is allowed in order to warn one of the flesh, and to check it by the very suffering. It is a blessed thing to walk consciously in the assurance of being so fully watched over. Many look for favours from God, in their daily circumstances, who do not the way He takes to wean them from things here. They like to interpret His providences as if they were thereby given leave to bind their hearts to His mercies here; but the more closely and spiritually you follow the Lord’s ways with you, the more you will find that it is to Himself He would bind you; and that His ordering for you here, is either to sever you from attachments in this scene, or to set you free from distractions, in order that there should be no interruption to your enjoyment of Himself. The more I know the love of the Father’s heart, in associating me with His Son now, according to His own desire in the scene of eternal brightness, the more am I prepared and expecting that He will remove every hindrance to my practical enjoyment of it; and if I am enjoying it, I shall soon be able to solve satisfactorily to myself His ways and arrangements for me here as a citizen of heaven; whereas if I am trying to see how He considers for me here as a citizen of this world, I shall be continually disappointed and confused. What a different thing it is to walk here, as one kept dressed and fit for heaven, and only as one receiving rain and sunshine!
The Lord give us to be so assured in heart of His desire to have us in company with Himself, that we may view and measure everything as it tends to promote the end and aim of His love.