Scott
Puritan Board Graduate
Hebrews 12 reads, in part:
Can anyone point to any resources that provide practical guidance on how to recognize whether suffering is God's discipline or not? Some suffering is not for discpline, such as the suffering endured by Job and Christ. Some suffering is for discpline, such as when God took David's child. How do we know the difference? I imagine Baxter and others have written on this.
Thanks
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."[a]
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13"Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Can anyone point to any resources that provide practical guidance on how to recognize whether suffering is God's discipline or not? Some suffering is not for discpline, such as the suffering endured by Job and Christ. Some suffering is for discpline, such as when God took David's child. How do we know the difference? I imagine Baxter and others have written on this.
Thanks