- There is something good for individuals, and even nations, about getting roughed up by the Lord for our spiritual benefit… regardless of how uncomfortable and difficult the experience might be.
Fall is a favorite season of many, and certainly it is of mine. I love the moderate weather, less lawn to mow, and especially the greatest prize of all in these months – Thanksgiving.
I have a dedicated playlist of Thanksgiving-related songs which I enjoy so much that I return to it several times in other seasons of the year. It includes modern songs and none too few hymns that are frequently sung around October and November. A particular favorite has these opening lines: “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessings, He chastens and hastens His will to make known.” We are not sure who wrote it, but it seems to have arisen out of the waning years of the 16th century; Dutch lyrics with a melody celebrating freedom from Spanish and religious oppression.
Particularly haunting to me is the word “chastens.” The Psalter gives rise to the same notion: “Blessed is the man you chasten, O Lord, and whom You teach out of Your law.” (Psalm 94:12). There is something good for individuals, and even nations, about getting roughed up by the Lord for our spiritual benefit…regardless of how uncomfortable and difficult the experience might be.
At Thanksgiving each year, many families go around the dinner table and share what they are thankful. As is typical in this nation, there is much for which to be grateful! But rarely does anyone mention with appreciation the tough times that were instructive towards greater good. That’s not how we typically think.
Most of our “chastening and hastening” comes from circumstances, I suspect. But for the person who desires a deeper spiritual life, would it behoove us to plan some chastening? John Wesley “Band Meeting” questions were designed to provoke serious contemplation:
- What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
- What temptations have you met with?
- How were you delivered?
- What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?
- Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?
Most people then and now participate in religious meetings for inspiration and comfort. But Wesley understood, as will the spiritual leader with similar sensibilities today, that the abundant life of God consists of much more than simply good feelings. Wesley knew that growth in holiness requires that we—as the prophets put it—consider or examine our ways, submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, correction, teaching, renewal, and sanctifying power.
This week one of my discipleship groups tackled the story of Samson. Samson is typically seen as flawed, and – by the way! – what in the world is he doing in my Bible? And yet, there he is named in the Hebrews Hall of Fame alongside notables like Abraham, Moses, David, and Samuel. Sure, you could argue that his character is compromised; but Israel benefited from the courage of a man who stood boldly against God’s enemies while the cowardice of his contemporaries is too frequently overlooked. We mostly hear about Samson’s turbulent beginning and disastrous ending, while the intervening decades of faithful service as judge receive little attention. Scholar Lawson Stone proposes that Samson checked the Philistine advance up the Sorek Valley for twenty years, giving Israel a comparatively and delightfully uneventful period: an achievement not to be discounted. And, again, he did this mostly alone.
That was his greatest strength. Going it alone. And, his greatest weakness? Going it alone. When Samson should have had people putting their knuckles on his proverbial desk and chastening, sharpening, correcting, he…seemed to have operated largely solo and in his own wisdom.
God gives us people for just such a purpose. “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” (Prov. 27:17). Around that meal at the end of the month if you get the opportunity before the turkey, thank God for the corrective voice in your life that irritated at the time, but proved spot on.
Matt Friedeman
