Lamoille Valley Grace Brethren Church
July 19, 2026

      • Psalm 34:1NIV2011

  • I Asked The Lord
  • When Trials Come

      • Proverbs 3:1–12NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 9:6–7NASB95

  • Why does God allow bad things to happen to Good His people?
    1. Teaching
    God can use physical pain and even psychological hurt in our lives to teach us valuable lessons and even prevent other hurts that are far worse.
    2 . Reproof/Correction
    The second reason why God allows bad things to happen to His children, is because of sin in the believer’s life. When we don’t listen to the teaching of God or we respond sinfully to the lessons that He is teaching us He may choose to reprove us.
    3. Training in Righteousness
    God can sometimes use difficult circumstances to give us positive spiritual experience that helps us to become stronger in our faith.

    I. Dangers of Discipline (5)

    Hebrews 12:5 LSB
    5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
    Quote from Prov. 3:11

    A. Despising Discipline

    Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 88.197 ὀλιγωρέω: to regard something or someone as of little value—‘to look down on, to have contempt for,
    Active Imperative — Don’t do this! This is what Job’s wife told Job to do. “Curse God and die”, she commanded. She was instructing her husband to despise God training. Instead we are to embrace the loving training of God in our lives. What God is doing profound and life giving if we see it the way He intends it. His training strips us of our self absorption and self reliance and conforms us to the character of God. Rather than getting angry at God and saying to ourselves, “God is limiting me, or He has it in for me.” We should examine ourselves and ask, “what is God trying to teach me?”
    Much of christianity today thinks that God is obligated to fix all their problems make them comfortable. No wonder they get angry and despise the discipline of God!
    We can also despise His discipline by complaining or calling God’s character into question. Why is this happening to me? Maybe a better question is, “why didn’t this happen to me sooner?” Job never once sinned with his lips. Did the questions run through his mind and tempt his heart? I’m sure they did. He even said at one point, he wished he had never been born, Job 3:1, “Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.” . He may have wondered why God was allowing this to happen, but Job never questioned the goodness, holiness, or sovereignty of God with his lips.
    Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 88.197 ὀλιγωρέω

    ὀλιγωρέω: to regard something or someone as of little value—‘to look down on, to have contempt for,

    B. Dismiss Discipline

    Passive Imperative — Don’t let this happen!
    Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 25.288 ἐγκακέω; ἐκλύομαι

    to lose one’s motivation to accomplish some valid goal—‘to become discouraged, to lose heart, to give up.’

    “I’m done!” I really dislike that phrase because it encapsulates this idea of losing heart and giving up. I hear it with husbands and wives when they think the difficulties of marriage are too much for them. “I’m done, I want a divorce.” They give up. They doubt the goodness of God. They lose hop and become bitter. They resent God for allowing this to happen instead of finding contentment in Him.
    Don’t give in! Don’t let the slow creep of discouragement settle in to your heart! Don’t let your circumstances dictate how you respond to life!
    Instead, ask:
    Is it me? Did I sin to cause this and need correction? Reroof
    Do I need to learn from this? Teaching
    Might God have a reason for this that is bigger than me and will make me and those around me stronger? Training in Righteousness

    II. Demonstrations of Discipline (6-8)

    A. He Loves Us (6)

    Hebrews 12:6 LSB
    6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He flogs every son whom He receives.”
    Everything that God does in our lives is rooted in His love for us. That includes the difficulties that He places in our way.
    John 3:16 LSB
    16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
    Ephesians 3:14–19 LSB
    14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that He would give you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
    Zephaniah 3:17 LSB
    17 “Yahweh your God is in your midst, A mighty one who will save. He will be joyful over you with gladness; He will be quiet in His love; He will rejoice over you with joyful singing.
    Lamentations 3:31–32 NASB95
    31 For the Lord will not reject forever, 32 For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.
    He loves us and proved it by giving His own Son to take our affliction upon Himself.
    Isaiah 63:9 NASB95
    9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

    B. We Are His Sons (7-8)

    Hebrews 12:7 LSB
    7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
    When my cousin Gary and I were young we did some stupid things together. One night we vandalized the Jr. High school building. Gary did not have a father in his life and so after we got caught, Gary didn’t get into any trouble, but boy did I get it. My dad had been a police officer so he told the police officers who caught us to lock me up in a holding cell and threaten me with all the crimes that they could possibly charge me with. Dad did not/could not do that for Gary. He was my dad, not Gary’s. I learned a powerful lesson that night that I will never forget. A lesson that my cousin never learned.
    When God bring trials into our lives, they prove that we are His sons and daughters. He is our father and cares enough to teach us lessons that we need to learn. It is because we are His that we face difficulties. It is a proof of sonship not a proof that hates us.
    Proverbs 19:18 NASB95
    18 Discipline your son while there is hope, And do not desire his death.
    Hebrews 12:8 LSB
    8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
    If we are cruising through life and face no difficulties, then that should be distressing to us. If God is indifferent to you in that you don’t face tests and faith stretching moments, then you should ask if you really are one of God’s children.

    III. Results of Discipline (9-11)

    A. Life (9)

    Hebrews 12:9 LSB
    9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
    Father of spirits in contrast to earthly fathers. Spiritual Father as apposed to fathers who sired us.
    Life — longer life on this earth.
    Exodus 20:12 NASB95
    12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
    Also Life — abundant life of meaning and purpose

    B. Holiness (10-11)

    Hebrews 12:10 LSB
    10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share His holiness.
    God has His hand on the thermostat and His eye on the thermometer. He know just how much heat we can handle without burning us. All of it is for our benefit, not to harm us, but to make us better stronger, filled with faith, and hope, and love and like our Savior.
    Share in His holiness:
    Romans 8:29 NASB95
    29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
    Hebrews 12:11 LSB
    11 And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
    James 1:2–4 NASB95
    2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
    We don’t look for or ask for the discipline, but we don’t shy away from it either. As a matter of fact we welcome it and rejoice in it.
    2 Timothy 3:12 NASB95
    12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
    2 Corinthians 4:8 NASB95
    8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
    Psalm 10:1 NASB95
    1 Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?

      • Hebrews 12:5NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:6NIV2011

      • John 3:16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 3:14–19NIV2011

      • Zephaniah 3:17NIV2011

      • Lamentations 3:31–32NIV2011

      • Isaiah 63:9NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:7NIV2011

      • Proverbs 19:18NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:8NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:9NIV2011

      • Exodus 20:12NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:10NIV2011

      • Romans 8:29NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:11NIV2011

      • James 1:2–4NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 3:12NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8NIV2011

      • Psalm 10:1NIV2011

  • Have Thine Own Way
  • Find Us Faithful
Lamoille Valley Grace Brethren Church
pastorethan@lvgbc.net
8028883339
http://www.lvgbc.net
26 members