And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
In verses 5-11, the stress is on how God uses suffering and adversity to strengthen the spiritual life.
There are four propositions in this section:
—Do not despise God’s discipline.
—Do not be discouraged by God’s discipline.
—God’s discipline of believers is proof of their salvation.
—God disciplines everyone He accepts as a son.
And
“And” connects verse 5 to verse 4.
you have forgotten [completely] the exhortation
Believers in Hebrews completely forgot the exhortation from Proverbs 3:11-12, which set forth the principle of divine discipline as evidence of God’s love for us (v. 6). This is an exhortation from God Himself. God speaks through Scripture.
The discipline of the Hebrew readers was not unprecedented or peculiar; it has been the experience of all believers for all time. It has always been God’s method to correct the family of believers.
The Greek tense of “forgotten” gives the implication that they put the exhortation from Proverbs out of their memory (perfect tense). The Hebrew Christians were in a state of rebellion against God’s Word.
PRINCIPLE:
Scripture is how we listen to God.
APPLICATION:
To forget what God has done is a bane of many children of God (Deut 6:12; Ps 106:13,21). God’s Word to our souls is a treasury we must store in our minds. Once we remove it from our memory, it does not affect our life.
