"Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth." How petty our complaining is!

Our Lord begins to bring us into the place where we can have communion with Him, and we groan and say - "O Lord, let me be like other people!" Jesus is asking us to take one end of the yoke - "My yoke is easy, get alongside Me and we will pull together." Are you identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God for the pressure of His hand.

"To them that have no might He increaseth strength." God comes and takes us out of our sentimentality, and our complaining turns into a pæan of praise.

The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and learn of Him.

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Where do the saints get their joy from? If we did not know some saints, we would say - "Oh, he, or she, has nothing to bear." Lift the veil. The fact that the peace and the light and the joy of God are there is proof that the burden is there too. The burden God places squeezes the grapes and out comes the wine; most of us see the wine only. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit, it is an inner unconquerableness.

If you have the whine in you, kick it out ruthlessly. It is a positive crime to be weak in God's strength.

My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.—Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.—He maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.—Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.—I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.—He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

I know, O Lord , that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

O Lord , thou art our father, we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

It is the Lord : let him do what seemeth him good.

Righteous art thou, O Lord , when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments.

He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.

Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It is the Lord : let him do what seemeth him good.—Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.—The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord .—What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

Jesus wept.—A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.—Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.—In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

When I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.—Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.—Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.