Sometimes, as sons and daughters of God, our paths need straightening out, and it isn’t always a pleasant experience at first.
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Hebrews 12:13
This is in reference to the chastening of the Lord, which is evidence of two important things: one, that we are regarded as sons and daughters, and, two, that we are loved by God. Oh, we could add that He is present in our lives.
If we are loved, then, the chastening, or correction, is with careful redirection in mind, not a casting out, nor a rejection, and not a sentence of exile. Sin separates, correction reunites.
I believe the reference to being lame is connected with Jacob wrestling with God (Gen.32), as Jacob sought the blessing and would not let go of God until he had received it.
God allowed Jacob to continue wrestling for the blessing all night long, and eventually gave Jacob, which means ‘usurper,’ a new name, Israel, ‘Contender with God,’ and the blessing, but along with it, Jacob was made slightly lame as God put the sinew of Jacob’s hip out of joint.
The contention of Jacob was his desire to be put first, and for the best of everything, at any cost. Remember that he usurped the blessing of the birthright from his older brother, Esau, by deception, but Esau gave it up too easily, and did not treasure the birthright as highly as Jacob, who understood the significance. Our birthright is our destiny and carries the weight of heaven behind and before it.
Jacob’s blessing, though, was in his pursuit of God’s best, His blessing, even to the point of pressing for it. He highly valued the blessing. He understood it fully. It is the qualifying endorsement of God, along with the anointing.
Sometimes we wrestle with God over issues that He wants us to be corrected out of. The lameness is in our own misdirection, self-interest, disconnecting worldly pursuits, the very reasons we need to be chastised.
Our effort, His plan
God wants us to walk straight paths, but notice that He doesn’t do it for us, here. He wants us to do the straightening. That is the way of repentance, the change of direction to God’s ways and His paths. It is part of our training.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, we are told, and that is the direction He wants us to take. But we stray at times and drift away from His path, the route He orders for us. He has a determined direction for all of us.
Chastisement is the inward sharp rebuke that brings us back to attention and sets us back on His course for our lives. He wants us to make sure that our paths are straight and we do not meander from one detour to the next. What is it that takes off course? That is what we should consider in these times. What are the detours? What am I looking at?
This correction hurts us for a period. We are having our conscience exposed. Our heart convicts us. This chastisement isn’t sickness or disease or physical wounding. The bruise is entirely of our ego, and the wounding of our pride. That arrogance and self-importance must go. It is a serious hindrance to our relationship with God.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:12
So, what if God is bellowing at us to straighten up our paths? He is getting our attention. He is putting us back on track. He is demonstrating our sonship and His love for us as sons and daughters of the Almighty.
So this temporary lameness, we are told, does not lead to dislocation, but to healing. The lameness, unlike Israel’s, will go away. We will be cured. We will walk in love with Him again.
Now no 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.
Hebrews 12:11
So the chastisement is part of our training. We are like children who need parental guidance and supervision all the time. Occasionally this includes rebuke and correction.
Repentance that leads to change
When we read the Word and it seems to correct us, or if we sense the rebuke of the Spirit through our heart, and we are pained by the guilt or shame of something we’ve said or done as an offence to others or a trespass against God, we go into a place of godly sorrow, or remorse, that leads to repentance. We want to change direction over a certain issue being pointed out in no uncertain terms by the Word and Spirit of God.
This is no time to resist God. It is sin we resist, and the devil we resist, and pride we resist. It is time to yield to God and fall to our knees in submission and humility so that the waves of repentance can flow over us and healing can come swiftly from the presence of God.
So, as we come out of that time of chastisement, that sorting out of our desires, motives and actions, in godly sorrow our hands are hanging down, and we are weak at the knees. We feel terrible for what we have done as we realise how we’ve walked away from what God has for us.
This is the time to strengthen the hang-down hands, and the trembling knees, make those paths straight again, and know the healing of the Lord. The lifting of our hands signifies, not only submission to God, but also prayer and intercession as we oversee the battle of life before us in the Spirit to bring victory in His name. Our knees are strengthened to kneel, but also to walk the walk.
Finally, at the cross, the chastisement of our peace was on Jesus. He took it for us so that we could overcome.
Remember the good news in this passage of scripture: we are sons and daughters of God, and we are loved by Him. That is why godly correction is good for us.
