Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Does the Lord love some people more than others? Peter, James, and John were special disciples to Jesus, and John was the one whom in a very special sense, "Jesus loved" (John 13:23). They were eager students in the "school of Christ."
The Holy Spirit tells us:
(1) "Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights" (Prov. 3:11, 12; also see Heb. 12:5, 6).
(2) Some people go through life like it's a picnic ("have a continual feast," Prov. 15:15). Others are "gifted" with pain, sorrow, and disappointments. In the end, the "gifts" are more valuable.
(3) Did the Lord love Joseph more than He loved the ten brothers who sold him into slavery? All eleven were in "the church" of that day; He had a very special work for Joseph to do--hence his special "chastening" (discipline). Joseph seems to be a type of Christ, the Savior of the world, because he saved his family, and yes the Middle East world of that day, from starvation in the great famine of seven years (Gen. 41:41ff).
(4) For Joseph to have become able to hold that high position, required all that special discipline. The Lord's love therefore had to be displayed in that very unique way.
(5) No "chastening seems to be joyful for the present," that is, when you endure it you seem to be missing out on the picnic. It's "grievous," painful; "nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Heb. 12:11).
It may be hard to see through your tears now, but it's New Covenant training because it prepares you for that place of honor in the Lord's economy: "You shall be a blessing" wherever you go throughout the earth in your life time (Gen. 12:2, New Covenant promises!); all who knew you will thank the Lord for giving you to their world!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 24, 2007.
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