"The Chastening of The Lord: Part 1" Kathryn Kuhlman (The Lord's Discipline) Proverbs 3:11-12 Hebrews 11:5-6

in this moment i feel i'd like to pause and just agree in prayer with you for that need in that life of yours the bible says if any two of us shall agree in prayer and father i come boldly before the throne of god with that one who has a need in their life, a need in that little home, that little family. We stand together on your promise, knowing that he who has promised will keep his word. You've never failed. In this moment, meet that material need in that life. according to your riches in glory by christ jesus be that one's great physician just now give faith where faith is needed for jesus sake amen well sir for a few minutes again today We're going to have a heart -to -heart talk about something that affects all of us, and that is the thing of sorrow, of suffering, heartaches. I want to read a verse of Scripture found in the 50th chapter of Isaiah. It's that 10th verse. and i have read it over and over again i do not have a bible i have never owned a bible where this one verse was not marked it has meant much to me through the years who is among you that feareth the lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light. Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Remember something. Sooner or later, every one of us will have to go down to the valley of suffering. Sooner or later, trouble will come into the life of each of us because we are a part of humanity. That's the reason I feel that our heart -to -heart talk today is so important. You may not need it today. You may not need it tomorrow. But sooner or later, you're going to need the very thing that I'm going to be talking to you about. And I pray to God that every word that I speak to you will be remembered. The Bible has a message for every life, no matter what its duty, its need, its test. There is nothing that ever comes into the life of any human being but what the Bible holds the answer. And it's just like that. you're going to need this promise mark it in your bible i pray it shall mean much to you in that hour when much strength and courage and faith is needed i repeat sooner or later all our feet must go down that veil of sorrow and suffering and darkness and tears. And this text that I've just read to you describes a condition that will sometime come to you. And what is the condition? Here is one that fears the Lord. who loves the Lord with all his heart. This is not a sinner. This is not someone who has never known the peace of God, who has never had that experience of being born again. I must make this very clear to you. Here is one who loves the Lord. He fears God. He obeys the voice. of his servant, and yet walketh in darkness and hath no light. And, beloved, that's the condition that sometimes comes to us in our earthly experience. That condition is sometimes the severest test that ever comes to us. And you know exactly what I'm talking about. Darkness is always trying to us. Darkness is trying to us physically, especially when we're ill, agitated, disturbed, nervous. There's something about darkness. Oh, how sick people dread the night. It's darker, I believe, to one who's ill. There's a blackness about the darkness of night that becomes even darker. When one is sick, when there's pain, everyone else in the house is asleep. It's quiet. And there's something about that darkness. And a sick person longs for morning to come just to hear the chirping of the first... bird that signals the breaking of a new day when one is sick just to see the light beginning to break in the eastern horizon there's something about it for a sick person the hours are longer and darker during the night than any other time and that one always feels that when morning comes, it's going to be better. Our troubles, somehow, are intensified at night. Our worries are bigger at night than they are during the day. I can't tell you why, but it's just like that. Oh, when we come into the realm of darkness, how terrible such darkness becomes and how glorious is light when it streams down on our darkness his light his hope his courage his strength his faith imparted unto us now then it raises an old question as old as job And I'm not talking to you about something that is new to you. And the very minute that I mention the name of Job, you almost feel as though I'm talking about a relative of yours. Someone who has been a member of your own family, of your own household. Oh, sure. I feel as though I have met him. I've shaken his hand. I feel as though we've wept together, we've rejoiced together. Oh, I feel like I've known Job all my life, and when I get home to glory, no one's going to have to introduce me to Job. No angel is going to have to bring Job to me and say, Catherine, this is Job. I want you to meet him. Instead, I'm going to say, well, bless you, if it isn't my friend Job. We made it, didn't we? Oh, sure, Job. Why do tears and sufferings and darkness come to those who are friends of God? that question is asked over and over again why why did god allow this thing to happen to me and bear in mind if you're his child covered with the blood living in his perfect will pleasing him fearing lest you grieve him nothing absolutely nothing can come into your life or touch you but what he allows and he permits and i believe that with every atom of my being all things do work together for good not for that one who's living outside of the will of god not for that one who's living contrary to god's will But if literally you are seeking his face, if literally you are living in the center of his will, covered with the blood, and you know you're being obedient to the word, obedient to him, nothing. can come into your life but what he allows and he permits and it's just like that but why do tears and sufferings why does darkness come to those who belong to him we can understand why trouble would come to the man who is not god's friend and refuses to be for as a man sows so shall he reap if he sows to unbelief the reaping must be of a character with the sowing we can understand why the godless man the man who will not be god's friend at all would come to the harvest of distress that we can understand but i admit to you that sometimes it is difficult to understand why God allows certain things to come into the lives of certain individuals. Why do sufferings, why do tears, why do disappointments, why do troubles come to those who love the Lord? Mm -hmm. That's a question. And I want you to see something. I want you to see something about this man, Job. And I want you to see it for one reason. Sometimes when a Christian is seen to be in darkness and trouble and tears and heartbreak, the superficial Pounces upon that one and sits on a little throne of judgment and says, this trouble comes as a result of some sin. You know, I think the cruelest person in the world, and I mean that, the cruelest, the meanest, person in the world will not be the man who will snatch my purse, who will assassinate my character, but the person who will point a finger of judgment. at me when god allows and permits certain things to happen in my life to strengthen me to school me to educate me when that person will point an accusing finger and say ha ha she must have sinned ha ha god's just sending his judgment upon her And there's many an old sister with a long tongue and a treacherous heart and a dirty mind who makes it her business to go around judging everybody when sorrow, when disaster, when death, when trouble comes. to an individual or to a family and say, ha, ha, I wonder what she's done. I wonder what he has done. There must be sin there someplace. Mm -hmm. You know them. I know them. Be careful that you judge not. when it comes to God's dealings with individuals. The Word of God is not that cruel. The Word of God does not teach that doctrine. That doctrine is as false as it is cruel, and as cruel as it is false. And I mean that with all my heart. Whom the Lord loveth, the Bible says, he chasteneth. Yes, ma 'am. If ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we've 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 oh this very hour i could worship at the feet of my mother my tears Could bathe my mother's feet if she were living today. Tears of gratitude for the time that she disciplined me. I had a strict mother. Don't let anybody tell you that Mrs. Jo Kuhlman didn't discipline her children. Of course, at the time, my feelings were hurt. My rear end hurt. Eyeballed. I didn't scream. No, ma 'am. But when Mama took me down the basement and took me across her knee, now you can talk about switchesin', brushesin', tattles of all kinds. i don't know where mamma ever got all the strength that she had in just one hand because she was a small woman i don't think mamma ever weighed any more than a hundred and seven pounds but all of her strength was in her right hand i'll tell you that oh and now sometimes i wonder if it really was that painful or whether it was just because at the time I felt I was being abused. No, I couldn't do what other children did. When night came, Mama said I was to sleep at home in my own bed. that's the reason i had a home and a bed in my home i think kids could sleep at the neighbor's house or do just about as they pleased but when night came i was home and that was the rule at our house i felt abused When Mama said no, she meant no. There was no arguing. Mama's word was law. I was brought up in a very strict home. Today, I thank my God for my early training. And there's coming a day, beloved, when we stand in the presence of our Heavenly Father and we'll thank Him for the chastening. We'll thank Him for His fitness. We'll thank Him for the deep waters. We'll thank Him for those things that He permitted. And allowed to come into our lives. He knows exactly what he's doing in training us. Even now. I look back through the years of my life. And I thank my God for every tear. For those hard places. For those days when I didn't know where my next meal was coming from. For the days that I had nothing to eat but just a five -cent roll. Those were the things that made me strong. Sure, I was growing. I was going through a time of schooling. And he was the teacher. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Be careful when sorrows don't come. Be careful when there's nothing to weep about. Be careful when he lifts the rod. I believe the most beautiful words. that Jesus ever spoke regarding this very thing is when he says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chase. I've seen many a dad and many a mother who permit their children to do anything they want to do their dick as the death to get them out of the house in the morning. They're tickled to death to just get a little breakfast cereal in their stomachs and say, Now, kids, get out. Get out. And they are sorry when they see them come back in again. Yeah? I don't want my Heavenly Father to feel that way about me. I wonder if those parents really do love me. their children. I wonder. I've wondered that more than once. These parents who just permit their children to do anything they want to do. There's no discipline. Nothing. Nothing. They do as they please. Our Heavenly Father isn't like that. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And so, you see, a part of the program and plan and experience of human life is chastisement, is trial. In the world, Jesus said, ye shall have tribulation. is one of the most expressive words in the bible but he goes on to say be of good cheer i have overcome the world god bless you