The Value of Affliction - Lesson 2 - Chastisement

‘Anyone can give up; it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.’ – Author Unknown


There is a difference between chastisement and punishment
Punishment would fall under the category of
A negative consequence for your actions
With reward being a positive consequence for good actions.

Chastisement is for your good
Chastisement has a character building outcome
If you choose to accept it.

If you run from chastisement
Or deny it
You will not learn the lesson.

If you don’t know if you are being chastised or punished
I believe you are probably being punished.

Hebrews 12:5-8, ‘And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.’

I don’t chastise others children,
I may correct them when they are wrong
But when it comes right down to it
I am not trying to teach them a lesson
I only want them to stop doing what they are doing.

Which are you?
Are you the Lord’s child who he is helping to grow
Or are you just being asked to stop doing what you are doing?





This is not differential equations
Or learning another language
It is up to us to decide how long it takes us to learn a lesson.

Deuteronomy 8:5-6, ‘Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.’

I understand that we don’t want to change
We say words like,
‘I’ve always been like this.’
Then we justify our sin
And compare it to someone else who has a ‘worst’ sin.

That is why we don’t like change
So why do we deny growth?





Job 33:19-20, ‘He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.’

Verse 20 has the answer,
Can you elaborate…





Psalm 94:12-13, ‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.’

Like a soldier going through boot camp
The soldier would not be ready if they just gave him a pep talk
and sent him off to war.

In turn they also cannot test him in every possible scenario
He needs to be put in extreme situations
With no apparent means of escape
When the soldier in training completes the assignment

Confidence is hopefully learned or a lesson in
Team building skills
When he learns he has to trust in someone else

Prov. 3:11-12, ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’

Any further thoughts here?





John 15:2, ‘Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.’

No chastisement is pleasurable when it is happening.
The husbandman is never closer to the branch than when he is pruning it.
So if you think you are alone, you are not.

Does the term ‘every branch’ mean every person
Saved and unsaved?
Or does every branch mean every Christian

I believe it means Christian.
I don’t believe the unsaved would be plugged into Jesus.

Having said that
This verse says the branch that is not bearing fruit will be taken away.

Your thoughts on that comment…





Then the second part of that verse mentions
that the productive branch will be purged
I take that to mean that the hindrances we have will be taken away.

Your thoughts on that comment…





1 Corinthians 11:31-32, ‘For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.’

We worry too much about everyone else.
When I say ‘we’ this time I mean ‘we’
All of us.

Let me paraphrase that verse.
‘If we worry about ourselves, others won’t worry about us.’

Your thoughts…





Revelation 3:19, ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.’

Zealous meaning: enthusiastic, passionate, fervent & eager.

What advice do you have for us here?





I have said it before
I believe that as soon as you acknowledge that you are under chastisement
The Lord will alleviate some of the pain.

When we behave as the strong willed child.
The Lord will win and break our spirit.

I believe it is also possible for the time frame to pass
The Lord will stop trying to teach us the lesson he wants to learn.
As with His fruit analogy
He will give it to someone else.

By Him leaving us on the branch and keeping us alive
We are stealing nutrients from someone who could produce fruit.
Rather than us sucking the life out of the vine.

I don’t want to be a hindrance to producing what the Lord wants
I also don’t want you to be a hindrance.
If you are a hindrance I don’t have to worry about you.
John 15:2 will take care of that.

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