He bruises, but He binds up (Job5:18)

The chastening of the loving Father

God loves His creation “…for God is love” (1 John 4:8), and He deals with His children with all the love, for “…He loved them to the end” (John 1:13). As a loving Father who has compassion and tender mercy toward His children, but He does not spoil them or overlook His part as a loving Father. In this St. Paul says, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons” (Hebrews 12:6-8). Yes, and the Bible also says, “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole” (Job 517,18). It is not the revenge of a mighty God who avenges His servants, but a chastening of a Father to His beloved children to their benefit and their cure. A chastening that is void of cruelty, but is mingled with mercy, that is why it is said about Him: “For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole” (Job5:18).

This is always the way God deals with His beloved children. Here are some examples:

Jonah has sinned and disobeyed God’s command…. So he fell under God’s chastening, he was cast into the see, but not to die, and is swallowed by the whale, but not harmed, and remained in the belly of the whale for three days, but got out of it whole without harm….So after his chastening, he became obedient to God and was prepared for a successful service.
How much was God’s chastening to His servant David, this whom the Lord said about him, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). The chastening goes up that Nathan reprimands him (2 Samuel 16:5-8), the rise of his son Absalom against him for his humiliation (2 Samuel 15:30), and God prevents him from building the temple, besides too many other tribulations to the point he sang in the Psalms saying, “The Lord has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death” (Psalms 118:18) …despite all of this, the Lord blessed and saved him; and in His incarnation, He was pleased to be born of the line of David according to His promise, and David sang saying, ”The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation” (Psalms 118:14).
Despite that The Lord appeared to Solomon, the son of David, twice, when he sinned He punished and chastened him, but gently, and His mercy did not depart from him as He took it from Saul, for the Lord said about Solomon, “… If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him...” (2 Samuel 7: 14,15).
Even the people of God in the Old Testament, God delivered them to be humiliated among the gentile nations during the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and allowed Jerusalem to be demolished with its temple and wall, but He returned and gathered His people using Cyrus King of Persia (Ezra 1:1) who allowed them to rebuild Jerusalem and he returned the articles of the house of the Lord (Ezra 1:7,8), and God gave Nehemiah grace in the eyes of Artaxerxes the king who sent him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, (Nehemiah 2:4-9) so the word of The Lord to His people is fulfilled “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you” (Isaiah 54:7).
The Babylonian captivity that was a chastening to the whole people, was a time for a wonderful spiritual experience, in it the saints of God, Daniel and the three saintly youth, saw the hand of God as He bruises and binds up.

He bruises, but He binds up in wisdom

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33).

God testifies about Job, “that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1:11). However, his life was not void of trials that he may rid himself of the certainty of his righteousness, meaning his feeling of self-righteousness, and that he may increase in purity of heart. He did not know the reason of his trials, so he continued to argue in that, confident in his wisdom, and his judgment on things, which increased his suffering…and finally, after God has spoken to him, he answered The Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. … Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. … I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You” (Job 42:2-5).

Wondrously, he did not utter his words, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21) when God healed him, and he restored twice as much of all that he lost, but he said it while he was in the depth of his trial and suffering. While he was in all his grief and suffering for losing his children and wealth, the matter to which he did not find a reasonable justification or logical explanation, it was said about him, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (Job 1:22).

It was said about God that: “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13), and the Spirit of God was described as, “The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge ...” (Isaiah 11:2). Our Christ is the hypostasis of Wisdom “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossian 2:3), and He is “…the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). We believe that God, the creator, manages the universe with His Wisdom, He is in control of everything, nothing happens without his permission, while those of worldly wisdom trust in their own wisdom and understanding, they also undermine any other thought that do not agree with their logic. For example, the worldly wisdom regards the crucifixion of Christ as weakness and foolishness, but we see in it that Christ by weakness showed forth what is greater than power, and that redemption through His death on the Cross is the utmost Wisdom of God that is not understood by the wisdom of this world. This is what the philosopher of Christianity St. Paul illustrated saying, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ... but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).

Truly, so many times, we are unable to understand and comprehend God’s wisdom in allowing painful things, or situations, or disasters, or scary pandemics, or trials that lead to despair. If we understand that God’s wisdom is beyond our capabilities, and it my be difficult or even impossible to understand its purpose unless God declares it for us, we should believe in His Wisdom and trust in His love in managing our life even if we do not understand it. Isaiah wonders of those who trust in their own wisdom more that the wisdom of God saying, “Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?" (Isaiah 29:16). Here, we remember what our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciple Peter: “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this” (John 13:7).

Comfort in the time of stress

“In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul” (Psalms 94:19).

We must go through tribulations to live in righteousness. The life of righteousness is always mingled with suffering that we may be purified more and more, as the wise Joshua son of Sirach said, “For gold and silver are tested in fire, yet truly, acceptable men are tested in the furnace of humiliation” (Sirach 2:5). Only those who are pleasing God are tested that they may shine and increase in value like gold. However, God does not leave His children in the midst of stress, without comfort or help. On the contrary, the soul finds pleasure in these comforts, and becomes occupied with God, the source of all comforts, and praise Him saying, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity” (2 Samuel 4:9).

God allowed His beloved Daniel, from among all the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, to be persecuted without a reason, and he was cast in the den of lions, but God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths (Daniel 6:22) that his soul may enjoy the work of God all night while the lions are under his feet… And a decree went out by the king to worship the God of Daniel (Daniel 6:25-28). For God bruises and binds up, and Daniel succeeded and was increased.
Also God allowed the thee saintly youth to be cast into the burning fiery furnace, heated seven times more, that the mighty men of valor who took them up were killed by its fire, but the three saintly men were not hurt by the fire, but their bonds were loosened, and they were in a state of joy, praising and walking in the midst of the fire, with a forth man, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God as described by the king. Then Nebuchadnezzar made a decree glorifying their God and promoted them in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3). Indeed, God bruises and binds up.
God also allowed Saint Joseph the carpenter, the righteous man, to suffer the burden that does not match his age, besides the responsibility of guarding the virgin Saint Mary and her Son, and support them during their tough travel to the land of Egypt that lasted three and a half years until they returned to Nazareth. However, he was guided by angelic visions and heavenly comforts, and of what he had seen of miracles of the child Jesus and His mother; this eased his hardships and troubles.
And God allowed His beloved, Saint John the elder, to be exiled to the island of Patmos. However, he was comforted by the wonderful revelation, as he saw the heavens opened, and saw the throne of God, and enjoyed the praises of the heavenly orders, and God revealed to him what will be at the end of time.
He also allowed Saint Paul, His chosen vessel, to suffer bodily disease, for which he prayed, but God did not grant him cure; and he labored more than the rest of the Apostles (2 Corinthians 11:23-26)… but at the same time, He granted him to be caught up to the third heaven, and heard inexpressible words (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) that delight his soul in all his afflictions.

“Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, 'Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you'" (Isaiah 35:3-4).

We have to experience God in all conditions, particularly during the times of trials and suffering, be confident in His love and wisdom, for He is the Chastiser and Healer, who bruises and binds up.