Divine Discipline – Proverbs 3:11,12

Could you mistake as love someone giving you whatever you wanted?  Could you mistake for hatred someone disciplining you?  Like little children I think we often expect that if God loves us He will give us whatever we ask for, allowing us no discomfort.  And when He disciplines us we take it as rejection.  Solomon wanted his son to discern the truth.

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,

as a father the son in whom he delights. (Proverbs 3:11-12, ESV)

When I and my brother and sisters were little our parents would spank us for major infractions.  I don’t remember it hurting much if my mom spanked us but it definitely did when my dad was doling it out.  Maybe this is the first thing you think of when you think of discipline, what some have dubbed corporal punishment.   I would not consider punishment and discipline to be the same thing.  Punishment, in my definition, is the infliction of penalty for wrongdoing, whereas discipline is instruction for the purpose of growth in right doing.

The distinction between punishment and discipline is important.  Though I might love the person I am punishing I am not doing it to reform them.  It is a matter of justice that concerns me.  Discipline can be done without love but its goal is the improvement of the one disciplined.  There is a time for both.  In our justice system we still in some cases allow the death penalty for murder.  There is no anticipation of improving the life of the murderer, only the satisfaction of justice.  For other crimes imprisonment might be the penalty but a desire to help the person grow might be satisfied by offering counseling in prison and educational opportunities.

God loves us.  He delights in us so much that He disciplines or instructs us.  He trains us, sometimes through pain, but always through instruction.  Discipline at times comes in the form of reproof when I need course correction.  I could grow weary of that, even despise it, because I think I’m just fine the way I am.  He knows better, of course, and will not relent to help me improve.  The pattern or goal of His discipline is the image of Christ.  He is making me like Christ.

Here’s a cute way of explaining God’s work of discipline in our lives:  https://skitguys.com/videos/item/gods-chisel