But no chastening at the time seems to be [matter] of joy, but of grief; but afterwards yields [the] peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.
Hebrews 12:11 admits something hard and promises something good in one breath: discipline hurts now, and it pays later. But the promise has one condition — the fruit comes only to "those who have been trained by it."
The verse does not soften the experience, and commentators are quick to say why. If correction could be arranged so that it caused no pain, it would stop being correction at all.
The writer goes on to say that "for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant." Do you know what we all wish for? A kind of discipline that does not hurt — one that might even be a pleasure to go through. But that would be no discipline at all. It has to be painful, or it is not discipline.
That means grief itself is not a failure of faith. What God objects to is a different set of reactions.
Restlessness, or indifference, or despair are all alike sin. Sorrow is not. God expects Christians to call bitter things bitter. Suppose they do. Suppose by faith they see whose hand is giving the grief, and accept the trial as a sign from the Father. Then trouble will produce patience. Patience draws them into deeper dealings with God, and that gives them a fuller experience of Him and of His way.
The promise hangs on a word that means effort, not sitting still. One writer traces it back to its root.
The great thing is to be exercised by our troubles. Discipline means trouble. The verse itself says no discipline seems pleasant at the time. And exercise means we turn our troubles into a spiritual gymnasium. The Greek word used here is the one our English word "gymnasium" comes from. Gymnastics for the body have some profit, as 1 Timothy 4:8 tells us. Gymnastics for our spirits bring great spiritual profit. They lead to both holiness and righteousness.
In practice this means asking what the trouble is for, not just waiting for it to pass.
God wants us to feel the discipline. He wants to produce in us self-judgment and humbling before Him. That is why the blessed result comes only to those the discipline exercises. If His hand upon us produces no exercise of soul, there will be no blessing.
Because the fruit is conditional, the same trouble can end in two opposite places. Suffering by itself guarantees nothing.
The clearest proof that discipline has done good is that the sufferer is conscious of more peace. But where God's dealings are not recognised by faith, this cannot happen. Endurance on its own, with no stirring of the spirit, only hardens the sufferer and drags him down.
The fruit shows up first in a will that has stopped fighting.
God does not expect us to enjoy these exercises of soul at the time. If they were pleasant, they would not do their work. But afterwards, once the will is broken, they produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Pride comes down when a man has to submit to what he never wanted. God also takes a larger and ever more precious place in his thoughts and in his life.
The change shows up in a person's temperament.
If we work through His dealings with us before the Father, hardship will not sour us or make us bitter. It will soften us and mellow us. In the end the character of Christ shows in us, and we bear fruit.
One word in the verse points past the trouble to the result.
Wise people look ahead to the afterward — the result of the trial. This result does not hang in the balance, the way the outcome of some great battle may hang for hours and days. God guarantees it. We only stand to gain if we are exercised by the trial.
Behind the pain stands a purpose that was thought out in advance.
What God brings on the believer is not just the product of divine goodness. It is the deliberate planning of divine love. However severe the trial, however deep the pain, however hard the test, it only convinces us more of that clear, warm love which makes no mistakes. That love cares so much about God's purpose being worked out in us that it will not shrink back from using means that hurt. For the moment they bring a tear to the eye and make the whole body wince and shake.
- Planned — what reaches the believer is more than goodness. It is love planning on purpose, and that love will use means that make the body wince.
- Painful — correction that does not hurt would not be correction; God means it to be felt, and calling a bitter thing bitter is not sin.
- Exercised — the promise is for those trained by the trouble, who turn it into a gymnasium for the soul. Endurance that never sees God's hand only hardens.
- Afterward — the outcome does not hang in the balance like a battle; the exercised believer only stands to gain.
- Fruit — the will is broken, pride comes down, God fills a larger place, and the person emerges mellowed rather than soured.
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the failing knees;
The words come right after the passage on God's discipline of His children. They turn a hard subject into a call to get up and keep going. So why does a believer still droop after hearing that suffering is a Father's training? And what puts strength back into slack hands and shaking knees?
The language describes a body that has run out of fuel. One writer sets the beginning of a race beside its end:
The Hebrews clearly tended to faint under their troubles. So verse 12, in the light of these facts about God's discipline, calls them to renewed energy in the race. Watch those runners at the start of a marathon. Their arms are lifted firmly at their sides, their step is springy, their knees strong. Now look at them as they near the finish an hour or two later. Most have run themselves out. Their hands hang down and their knees tremble as they doggedly stumble on.
You might expect talk of God's correction to flatten a struggling believer further. Understood rightly, it does the opposite:
"Therefore lift…" We are to renew our energies precisely because we know what God's discipline is meant to do. We might have imagined that talking to a poor, feeble, stumbling believer about God's discipline would be just the thing to cast him down. In fact, rightly understood, it is just the thing to lift him up. What could be more encouraging? All God's dealings aim at promoting holiness and righteousness. They also aim at keeping us from the sin and the weights that would slow us in the race.
Drooping hands are common. Another writer says they are never reasonable, and gives his reason:
In verse 12 we are urged not to let our hands hang down. There is no reason why it should be so. Though you are being disciplined, there is not one single reason why your hands should hang down or your knees be feeble. The Spirit has shown you yourself first in company with Christ, and then with your Father who loves you. Is there any reason why you should travel as if you did not know the road?
Hands and knees have another use. One commentator ties the drooping to prayer:
First, the apostle says, "Lift up" the listless hands and the feeble knees. If spiritual energy is flagging, then encourage others by lifting up your own hands. May we not apply this to prayer? Writing to Timothy, the apostle says, "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands" (1 Timothy 2:8). Hands that hang down and knees that are feeble may well speak of hands seldom lifted in prayer and knees seldom bent in prayer. Long ago the prophet said, "Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:30-31). Are we not too often powerless in public because prayerless in private?
The lifting comes with the next line about straight paths. A tired believer cannot find strength just anywhere:
There need be no discouragement. They must lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. Along with that, they must make straight paths for their feet, so that even the lame are not turned out of the way, but healed of their lameness. It is only in God's path for us that power is found, whatever the difficulties. The weaker we are, the more urgent our desire should be to walk in the only place where He can be with us. What are all the difficulties then?
Your recovered strength is not a private matter. A courageous walk is itself a message to those who are limping behind:
On the principle of grace, the Hebrews are urged to encourage themselves in the path of faith… They were to walk with such courage that the weak would see their joy and blessing, and feel that this was their own assured portion too. Such joy is always a distinct testimony, and one that triumphs over the enemy. So the weak would receive strength and healing instead of discouragement. As for circumstances, the path of godliness was to be made easy — a well-worn path for weak and lame souls. Weak souls feel the comfort and value of such a path more than stronger ones do.
- Droop — Hanging hands and shaking knees mark a runner who has spent himself. The verse speaks to real exhaustion, not imagined weakness.
- Reason — The drooping has no ground. The Spirit has shown the believer his place with Christ, and a Father whose correction aims at holiness. So the passage on discipline ends in a lift, not a crush.
- Lift — Hands lift and knees bend in prayer. Those who wait for the LORD renew their strength; those prayerless in private end up powerless in public.
- Path — Strength returns only on the straight path God marks out. The weaker you are, the more urgent it is to walk where He can be with you.
- Others — A courageous walk beats a track the lame can follow. Your recovered strength heals them instead of discouraging them.