He Disciplines Us for Our Good & to Reveal We Are His
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
(The Letter to the Hebrews 12: 5b-6 NASB)
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
As a child, I was blessed with a healthy fear. When my dad spoke, I listened, and as I listened and obeyed, my life was better for it. However, do not miss this fact: In all my obedience to do as my dad instructed me to do, my earthly dad never left my side. When dad gave us (my siblings and me) a task to do, he never sent us to do the task alone; he was ALWAYS there right beside us, doing the task with us.
My family has always been a ‘farming’ family, and as such, we did not have ‘off’ days for there was always work to be accomplished. We knew that when we went to bed, we knew that as we sat at dinner, and we knew that when we stepped off the school bus at the end of our school day. The question was never: Will we need to change into our work clothes? The question instead was this: What task will dad have us do once we have changed?
Let me provide an example, one that I can see so clearly in my mind.
We raised field corn when I was child in the great state of Indiana, and when we moved to the great state of Kentucky, we continued to raise field corn. The difference was the amount of field corn we raised in each state. In one, dad and mom grew hundreds of acres, and in the other, they only planted a few acres. In one state, dad and mom used heavy machinery to gather the hundreds of acres of corn, and so our work (the children’s work) was different while we lived there. In the new place where we lived, the work changed, as we used our hands to gather the corn.
When we moved to Kentucky, my grandfather owned and used two mules to help on the farm; thus, my dad continued the practice. He would harness the two mules to the small wagon, and the whole family (grandma included) would step into the field to gather the corn by hand. Now, there are some things I clearly remember about this particular task:
- The mules obeyed my dad’s command, when to move & when to stand still.
- My grandmother always took the rows at the back of the wagon, the ones knocked down by the wagon. Looking back, I believe this was an expression of her love for her grandchildren out there working beside her.
- In the rows of corn to the left and right of the wagon, the children gathered the field corn and tossed it into the wagon, sometimes missing the wagon and whacking our siblings in the head with the over-tossed corn.
- My mother ALWAYS helped make the work FUN for she ALWAYS reminded us of the songs, games, and joy we could experience AS we worked.
- My father was ALWAYS there in the field with us. ALWAYS!
- My father disciplined us whenever we “horse-played,” whenever by doing so, our siblings were in danger of being injured by our antics.
The Holy Spirit led the writer of Hebrews to remind us—
“It is for discipline that you endure;
(The Letter to the Hebrews 12: 7-11 NASB)
God deals with you as with sons;
for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers,
then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
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?
For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful;
yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Whom God loves, He disciplines.
- Those who do not know God as their Father do not belong to the Father.
- Thus, they are not God’s children but illegitimate.
- We are to respect our Father God with a healthy fear of reverence.
- We are disciplined by our heavenly Father, and because we are, we LIVE FOREVER WITH HIM!
Our Father in heaven only disciplines us for our good because He knows in His omnipotence what is BEST for us.
Through HIM we receive His Righteousness!
- God’s discipline is not an act of anger but of GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS OWN!
- God’s discipline ALWAYS BRINGS JOY, maybe not in the moment, but ALWAYS IN THE END!
- God’s discipline trains us up in the way we are to go—HIS WAY, HIS PATH TO PEACE & LIFE!
Whom God loves, He disciplines.
Whom we love, we receive His discipline and learn from it.
- He Disciplines Us for Our Good &
- He Disciplines Us to Reveal We Are His
“Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
(The Letter to the Hebrews 12: 12-13 NASB)
and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”