Chastening

Job. 5.  18. "He maketh sore and bindeth up; he woundeth , and his hands make whole "
Has this been your experience lately ? Have you been made sore by the heavy scourge of pain , and wounded by the nails of the cross? Do not look at second causes . Men may have been instruments , but God is the agent . The cup has been presented by a Judas , but the Father permitted it ; and it is therefore the cup that the Father has given you to drink . Shall you not drink it ? How much he must love you , to dare to inflict this awful discipline , which makes your love and trust , that he values so infitely , tremble in the scale ! "despise not thou the chastening of the Lord , nor faint when thou art rebuked of him , and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth ."
      So when the heart seems bleeding its life away , God is at work binding up and healing . Think of those dear and tender hands , that fashioned the heavens , and touched the eyes of the blind , as laid upon you to make you whole. Trust Him ; He loves infinitely , and will none that trust in Him to be desolate . We must be careful however , that nothing on our part shall hinder the Son of God from flowing through us , as the sap of the vine through every branch.

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