No man is so perfect that they will always do the right thing only for the purest motives, although this may be a good ideal. Therefore we need not only faith, hope and love in our hearts to inspire us, but also, occasionally, God the Father’s corrective chastening.
Although our spirit is renewed by the Holy Spirit, and although our bodies will be perfected when Christ returns, our wills must be perfected by the experiences of this life. To perfect our wills in preparation for heaven, God uses chastening.
The book of Hosea is a story of the process of chastening, motivated by the love of God for His people. Of Israel's beginnings God said: When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt . . . I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. (Hosea 11:1-4)
But Israel's response to God is that: they sacrificed unto Baalim (false god) and burned incense to graven images . . . they refused to return. God said: my people are bent to backsliding from me. (Hosea 11:2,5,7)
God cannot continue to love those who forsake Him, any more than a man can continue to love a woman who is bent on adultery. But God did not immediately forsake His people. He said: How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? . . . mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee. (Hosea 11:8,9)
God's solution was to punish them by taking them to Assyria where: the Assyrian shall be his king. (Hosea 11:5) When they had learned their lesson, understood the power of God, and repented, God said: they shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses. (Hosea 11:11)
If we are disobedient, God may chasten us in a variety of ways: either by rebuke; or by sickness; or by everything going wrong; or by confusion; or by distress. But we must respond to chastening by fearing the Lord. It is written: we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:9)
While being chastened: no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. (Hebrews 12:11) But if we learn increased righteousness from the chastening, then upon its removal: afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11) Righteousness brings peace: Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalm 119:165)
Your response to chastening should not be to: faint when thou art rebuked of him. (Hebrews 12:5) Rather it should be to make an effort to correct ourselves. It is written: lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees: And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:12,13) What we do now will become second nature to us in the future. If we correct ourselves by increased righteousness now, the power of the Lord will cause this righteousness to be our future nature. But if we do evil now, the Devil will gain advantage over us, causing further corruption.
Experiencing chastening does not imply inferiority. It is written: if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (Hebrews 12:8)
Although we must learn from chastening, we should not take the attitude of the man who said, ‘If God wants me to obey, then He must chasten me.’ God says: I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. (Psalm 32:8,9) God wants us to learn from Him in fellowship rather than in opposition.