Chiding, but not keeping on chiding.
"He will not always chide." A prophet prays, "O Lord, correct me, but in measure." The supreme danger of all who are in positions of authority over others—parents, teachers, masters—is that they may chastise beyond the requirements of the particular case; they may continue the chiding under the impulse of feeling, when judgment requires its strict limitation. They who chide when in a passion always over chide; they try to satisfy their feeling—and it is unrestrained feeling—rather than the actual demands of the case. Now, the psalmist has the utmost satisfaction in God, because he is quite sure that God never over chides. There never yet was one unnecessary stroke given by the Lord's rod. That complaint no man ever yet fairly made.
I. GOD NEED NOT OVER CHIDE. Either by making the chiding over severe or by keeping it on too long. He need not:
1. Because he is never carried away by feeling. God is the infinitely self-restrained One; and so he is always himself, and perfectly competent to deal with every case.
2. Because he has the infinite power to estimate influences and results. This is often the explanation of man's over chiding. He cannot follow influences, and so see quickly when his object is attained. And it may he added that God has power to stop chidings. Man has not. He may be compelled to keep on awhile a training work he has begun, because, even if he could stop it, he would do serious mischief by stopping it. The omniscience and omnipotence of God prevent him from ever needing to over chide.
II. GOD DOES NOT OVER CHIDE. For the assurance of this, appeal may be made to the experience of God's people in all ages. Their marvel always has been, and always will be, that God should put such strict limitations on his chidinge, and accomplish such an "exceeding and eternal weight of glory" by such "light afflictions." This complaint no child of God, who was in his right mind, ever made; certainly no child of God ever had a right to make.
That God will surely chide us is our ground of assurance. Our self-willedness will never be left alone, to ruin us. That God will never over chide is our abounding consolation.—R.T.