Behold, as the eyes of servants look
to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious to us.
— Psalm 123:2
For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.
— Hebrews 12:6
The most crucial purpose of the Lord’s hand is to discipline us. This is why the psalmist says, “Our eyes look to Jehovah our God, until He is gracious to us,” or, as some translations say, “Until He has mercy upon us.”
At what point do we need mercy in our experience? We understand that mercy means the Lord reaches us in our low condition, even where grace cannot reach us. When we are far off from Him, the Lord still reaches us by His mercy. But when we experience the Lord’s mercy, what do we really experience? We actually experience His discipline. When we realize that we are far off from the Lord, by His mercy we repent and come back to Him. In the process we experience something of the Lord’s discipline.
Many times, however, we may not be far off from the Lord, but He still comes in to discipline us. In fact, the more we love the Lord and give ourselves to Him, the more we experience His discipline. And the more we are disciplined by the Lord, the more we cry out, “Lord, I need Your mercy.” By His mercy we are brought through the disciplinary process. Furthermore, when we ask the Lord for mercy we also receive His supply, His support, His leading, and His comfort. All of these come out of the Lord’s disciplinary hand.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 40.
Tomorrow: “Looking to the Lord’s Hand”