The Thursday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 9, 2025 by under
Scripture: Hebrews 12:4-11 (NKJV)
12:4 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.
Devotion
The Lord uses trials to teach us patience. He uses correction to strengthen us in humility and discipline. God told His people this before. The writer to the Hebrews refers back to Proverbs 3, reminding his hearers that we should not despise correction. Proverbs 3 also says, “lean not on your own understanding,” and “do not be wise in your own eyes (vs. 5, 7). Through the wisdom of His Word He teaches us righteousness and proper vocations. It is by these that He guides us and, when necessary, chastises us. We do not have the right to despise God or the servants through whom He guides us. Our vain understanding and wisdom want to dictate what our correction should look like, but that is not our place. God is our Master, Teacher, and Savior. We are the students and disciples.
Throughout the Gospels we see the chosen twelve fail in their understanding and think they deserve greatness for their own wisdom, even though their teacher was the Son of God Himself. Our Lord Jesus often corrected them, sometimes harshly! Our Lord was fulfilling His vocation and the will of the Father as He prepared these men for their vocation to be the holy Apostles of the Church.
The Lord says in Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” He calls us; we do not choose Him. We are to submit to the will of our Lord; He teaches us to pray that His will be done, not ours. And He does all of this because He loves us dearly.
Collect: Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
