God Chastises
These days we have been going through many things that have both tested us and hurt us, and even questioned our faith. For many of us it felt as if we were alone with God’s help. Some have rightly felt the feeling of abandonment, because of their actions as believers they have portrayed before the unbelieving world, but for us it is just a sign of God’s goodness. God is not pleased with the actions of those who profess one thing and behave like another (ps7:11). Infact when we sin, God will send his rode to discipline us and work us back to shape (ps89:30-32). As a father who wants best for his children God will do everything to make sure that he cares for us and is watching over us. Our trials and disciplinary state we may be in serves as a sign to others and ourselves, reminding us that God has not left us and is actively working in our lives. The bible tells us that whom God loves and takes as his child he disciplines (Heb12:6).
Psalms 60:1-5
O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.5 That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand and hear me.
David was at his most prosperous time at the time of this Psalm; Psalm 60, but there was one war coming that was huge, and he needed God to deliver him and his people. And he reminds God of all the times that he and his people had failed God, and of all the times he had abandoned David and his people. He wanted to make sure that for this war God was going to be on his side. So, he tells God that all those difficult times were going to serve as a banner to him and his people. The Psalmist tells us that we should not forget what God has done for us, that he is the one who heals and forgives all our iniquities (ps103:1-5). King David gave all his armies same-colored outfits that matched their flags as a banner to remind them that God was with them. To also remind them of all that they had gone through and that it was God who had delivered them. The prophet Ezekiel mentions the colors of Christ as the flag of a sail that God used to deliver his people, as the colors of blue and purple that covered them (ez27:7). Isaiah says that God will raise a banner from the tribe of Judah (Is11:12) referring to Christ.
Psalms 7:11
11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
Psalms 89:30-32
30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; 31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Psalms 103:1-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Ezekiel 27:7
7 Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.
Isaiah 11;12
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.