chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
e]chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12:12Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
12:13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
12:14Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
12:15looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.
12:16lest there be any fornicator or [f]profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
12:17For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
12:18For you have not come [g]to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and [h]darkness and tempest,
12:19and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
12:20(For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned [i]or shot with an arrow.”
12:21And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
12:22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
12:23to the [j]general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
12:24to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
12:25See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,
12:26whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I [k]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
12:27Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal.
The Race of Faith chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
Psalms 10:1-18 (KJV) Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.