My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Summary: Discipline is a word that has multiple applications. God uses all forms of discipline to teach us his ways.
Discipline is always a challenge. Like many words, “discipline” can mean several things. Sometimes it means being told “no.” Discipline can mean being made to do something you do not understand or want to do. It can also mean what you have done is a bad thing.
Like so many things in life, effective discipline relies on a foundation of love (agapé). If we cannot trust the source of our discipline, then we cannot have confidence in the outcome. If the cause of discipline is malevolent, then it becomes a tool for evil. Discipline grounded in love overcomes these flaws.
The Bible is full of examples of God’s discipline. Perhaps the most dramatic examples are found in Exodus. God’s people have become slaves in Egypt and four hundred years have passed since Isaac’s family first moved into town. The people themselves have grown accustomed to being slaves.
God has promised Abraham that his children with inherit Canaan. To make this happen, all the Israelites have to be moved from Egypt to Canaan. On the way, they need to be taught the difference between right and wrong. It sounds simple, but the logistics alone of managing over a million people in the sixteenth century BC are staggering.
All three kinds of discipline are at work in this story. The Israelites are told to do something they do not want to do. Once they leave Egypt, God teaches them the difference between right and wrong. No sooner do they know the difference between right and wrong than they go wrong.
In every case, God uses discipline to teach the Israelites. The difference between the Israelites and us is that our discipline is personal. God trains each of us up with discipline perfectly designed for our individual needs.
Application: Try looking at the trials in your life as discipline from God and see if that changes your attitude about what you are going through.
Food for Thought: What would our lives be like if God did not discipline us?
Looking back on my life, I believe the majority of God’s discipline for me has been allowing me to have my way until it is almost my undoing, letting me suffer the consequences of my actions, but also at the same time providing me understanding of and even comfort in the situation. I can see that God was there the whole time. I make it sound passive, but it is far from passive. It was more of a guided tour where God shows me just how badly I can mess up my life, but that He is always there to help me when I am ready to ask.
What would my life be like if God did not discipline me? I would be a very angry and miserable person; probably in trouble with the law in some aspect. Most importantly, I would be an ineffective witness for God, in front of my family and the world. None of what I have learned about God’s love has come about from my own ability or understanding, it has all come from God, through His Word and His teaching (discipline).
Chris,
Thank you. Yes, somehow God is able to seem passive, and yet at the same time be very involved. I appreciate you pointing that out.
Chaos. I cannot imagine a life without His discipline. Yes, He gives us the choice of freewill, but look where it got the Israelites when they refused to listen to Him and follow His discipline. God’s discipline is a show of His love to us. (Hebrews 12:5-11)
While children act as though they do not like to be disciplined by their parents, the truth is, children long for discipline and boundaries from their parents as it shows their parents care. It is the same for us with God.
Darla,
Your reference to “chaos” brings to mind the 1960’s sit-com, “Get Smart.” Agent 99 was always working to thwart the bad guys who were known as “KAOS.” That name used to be funny. Now, half a century later, it is not a joke. Society has drifted so far from acknowledging God that CHAOS is everywhere.
Thank you for sharing this morning!
If God disciplines those He loves, then not being disciplined would probably leave me unloved. If the God who is love couldn’t love me, then who else would?
I would probably be the ‘wild child’ doing crazy things both for attention and because no one told me not to. Someone living for pleasure, because the joy of serving wasn’t taught, the blessing of self control never instilled, and no hope of more ever presented. A thief, an addict, a loner, depressed and without understanding.
Maybe we should ask ourselves more often, ‘what if God didn’t/wasn’t…..?’ What else makes one understand how much God does for us?
A –
You are right about the “what if” question. How else can we see what God is doing in our lives? The alternative seems to be taking God for granted which is something else we do not want to do.
Judges chapter 2 outlines what happened to Israel over and over again. They would rebel against the Lord, He would discipline them through allowing consequences for the nation that included oppressors, they would repent, God would deliver them – repeat the cycle. If God had not disciplined them their hearts would have strayed further from the Lord. But they needed the Lord like the air that they breathed, whether they knew it or not. We are the same. The discipline brings us back to a healthy place spiritually and in other ways. Without the discipline, we would be as unhealthy spiritually as a spoiled child would be physically who was allowed to eat nothing but the Twinkies they craved.
Rich,
Verse 10 reads, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.”
Teaching the next generation is an incredibly important task. I know you have a passion for this work and I am thankful for people like you who do.
02-08-2022, Proverbs 11-12, What would our lives be like if God did not discipline us?
Turn on any factual news program and we see undisciplined living replacing disciplined living on a national scale. The result is, denial, chaos and lawlessness.
It’s as if the world is becoming more like Genesis 6:5, “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
God has included Law as a necessary part of the gospel. It is not the whole gospel, but it is part of it. It is for any who are doing things which are wrong. We should not immediately pick out the extreme forms of lawlessness, “murderers, immoral persons, sodomites, and kidnapers,” and say, this is not me! But look more closely and we’ll find categories which include each of us. Liars, and unholy and profane, perjurers, etc. AND WHATEVER ELSE IS CONTRARY TO SOUND DOCTRINE……………We all fall short.
1 Timothy 1:8-11
Believers have been given the Holy Spirit, the power of self-discipline and provide training and instruction to our children. We must seek to live according to His instructions.
2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 6:4
Ron,
Very well said. I especially appreciate you pointing us to the mirror of the Law. Matthew 5: 21-22 points us to the fact that even something as innocuous as a violent thought qualifies as murder in the eyes of God. We are all guilty before the Law. This brings us all under God’s mercy and his discipline.
👍