Psalm 89:30-34

Psalm 89:30-34 30 “If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, 31 If they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, 32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. 34 My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.(NKJV)

Sin is serious. It is not something that is to be winked at, joked about or tolerated. In Leviticus 11:44 God says “…I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy…” (NKJV emphasis mine). We have been called to live at a higher standard and when we do not we must be punished.

Our verses today talk of what would happen to those in David’s line if they did not live a consecrated life. Look closely at the verses and you’ll see “forsake”, “do not walk”, “break”, “do not keep” – all of these phrases bring to mind willful disobedience to the Lord. Our God is completely holy and completely righteous – he MUST respond when His children sin. To do any less would go against His very attributes.

A question to those of us with children. Why do we punish them? Is it because we are mean? Is it because we are cruel? Is it because we take joy in having power over those that are weak? No – we punish our children because we love them. We punish them because we see a behavior in them that needs to be corrected. If that is true with us, how much more our Heavenly Father?

Look at Hebrews 12:4-11 from the NKJV:

4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 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.

God will punish us when we sin not because He is cruel but because He loves us. Romans 6 tells us “the wages of sin is death” – sin is deadly. Just as any parent would try and stop their child from doing anything harmful the Father will chastise His own.

Look at the comfort also contained in our verses for today, “My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him”. What a wonderful thought! There is no parent that enjoys punishing their child. We love them through the whole process – the Father reminds us that in the midst of the punishment He still loves us.

He goes on to say “nor allow My faithfulness to fail”. Christian you can rest in the promise that God is for you. There is no depth to which you can sink that God will say “depart from me”. God has established our salvation through the work of Jesus on the cross and there is nothing that we or anyone else can do. Rest in the comfort that there is forgiveness and mercy in the Lord if we repent from our sin(see 1 John 1:9).

Punishment is never fun, our verses for the day use the words "rod" and "stripes". I was raised by parents who believed in corporal punishment. I felt the sting of the switch many times because I was a normal boy. That being said - I always knew what I was being punished for and most of the time I knew what the punishment was going to be before I committed the crime, there was never any doubt in my mind about the "why". The same is true for us - all of us are aware of the sin in our life. We also know what the punishment is. We simply hope that we won't get caught.

I hope I haven't painted a picture of the Father as one who sits in Heaven waiting to blast those that fail, quite the opposite. God chastens us because sin is horrible and it can only bring destruction. He lives with us every moment and gives us the power to overcome sin if we will simply ask Him to. Sin is a terrible thing that has permeated every aspect of the world. Let us recognize it for what it is, it is a disease and it can only be cured if we will turn to Christ and let the Holy Spirit guide every aspect of our lives...

Blessings and peace to you all...