EVERY BELIEVER IS IN THE PLACE OF A SON, coming under the care and discipline of the Father in heaven. Every believer is beloved of his God, yet every believer is chastened, and chastisement is a proof of divine love. We are but children and need it; we are children and therefore receive it. Some are chastened by losses, some by sickness, some by the failure of their favourite schemes, some by domestic trials, some by the conduct of relatives or friends. We are not all chastened with the same rod, but we are all chastened by the same hand. We are not all corrected in the same way, but we are all corrected by the same wise, holy, and loving Father. Some suffer most in mind, others in body; some are tried most in their own persons, others more in their relatives. But let us never forget, every correction flows from love; every stroke is in kindness. Our follies call for strokes, and our sins for rebukes; let us therefore humble ourselves under our Father's hand. Let us not question our relationship, or His love to us, because we are so tried; neither let us think the discipline unnecessary, and so despise His chastening. The Father chastens out of love.

For Meditation:
Afflicted by a gracious God,
The stroke I patiently sustain;
Grievous to feeble flesh and blood,
Unable to rejoice in pain;
Beneath a Father's hand I bow,
And groan to feel the chastening now.