November 23

Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law, — Ps 94:12 BSB

We can observe from the words before us that the Lord places chastening before teaching. Isn’t this remarkable? Why should chastening come first? It’s because we are not ready to listen until we are chastened. Consider the prodigal son: it wasn’t until hunger struck him that he came to his senses and thought of his father’s house. Before that, he had no heart to return home, but the famine drove him back. In the same way, God’s children, when left to wander in their backslidings, have no desire to return to Him. But when the rod of discipline comes, when they are driven back by hardship, they become ready to listen. It is then that God teaches them in ways that are for their eternal good, instructing them through His blessed Spirit and speaking lessons into their hearts.

"And teach him out of Your law." The word "law" in Scripture has a broad meaning. In the original language, it refers to "teaching" or "instruction" (Torah). It’s not limited to the law given to Moses at Sinai, with its thunder and lightning, but also includes the gospel of Jesus Christ—the "perfect law of liberty," "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and the law written in the heart of the Redeemer, who said, "I come to do Your will, O God; Your law is within My heart."

Just as God teaches His children "out of the law," meaning His instruction, He also teaches them "out of the gospel." There is something wonderfully sweet in this phrase, "out of the law," because it shows that the law is not only a storehouse of wrath but also a source of mercy. Those who know the law only understand small portions of it, just as they receive only a few drops of the overwhelming grace of the gospel, the "perfect law of liberty."

When Christ promised the Spirit to His disciples, He said, "He shall take of mine and show it unto you." But the Spirit reveals these things gradually—just a bit at a time. Here a small blessing, there a comforting word, perhaps a glimpse of atoning blood or a comforting sense of Christ's presence. This is how the Spirit takes what is Christ’s and makes it known to the soul, revealing His dying love and making Christ known in a personal and experiential way.

Thus, the Lord teaches each of His children "out of His law," both from the law given at Sinai and the law of grace revealed through the gospel.