Welcome to Our Journey of Faith. My blog is a place where I share the joys and trials of living a faith-filled life as the mother of an extra large (12 children) homeschooling family, and my prayer is that it brings encouragement to others to live their lives as an adventure of faith, as well.
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Saturday, November 6, 2010
The Lord's Discipline
Discipline (verb):
1. To train and develop by
instruction and exercise.
2. To punish.
Discipline (noun):
1. Training that produces
obedience and self-control.
2. Training (something painful) that
corrects, molds, or perfects.
I don't know about you, but usually when I have thought about the Lord's Discipline, I have automatically thought of it in it's verb form, with the meaning of "punishment". However, this week, I have been really pondering this word ... and it's meaning for my life.
In this past week's lesson for Bible Study Fellowship (B.S.F. Int'l), we read about the Lord's Discipline.
We had to answer the question: Explain why God's discipline is an expression of His love?
The lesson asked us to look up Hebrews 12:3-17 as a reference (and/or use any other scripture to explain or illustrate our answer).
When I read verses 5-6, my "punishment" definition fit.
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
Thus ... "discipline" is used along with "rebuke" and "punish". Clearly, the Lord does use His discipline to "punish" us.
However, when I went on to verse 7, I began to wonder if the Lord's Discipline might have more than one meaning.
"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons."
My immediate thoughts ...
We have endured much hardship this year. Therefore, is the Lord disciplining (verb) us for something? Have we done something that we are being punished for?!?!
I sought the Lord in earnestness.
"Oh, Father, have we done something wrong?"
"Lord, have we not seen something?
Have our eyes been closed to our sin, in any way?"
This was serious business.
We have sought the Lord throughout our trials this past year, and I couldn't imagine that we could have possibly missed something so big. But, I so wanted to hear from the Lord ... to KNOW if our hardship was due to some type of punishment.
Then ... I felt as if the Lord were wrapping His arms around me, as He showed me that there is more than one meaning for the word discipline.
In v. 7 (above), the word discipline is used as a noun, not a verb.
The Lord showed me that this time of hardship has been allowed in order to ...
"produce obedience and self-control"
and for ...
"training (sometimes painful) that molds and perfects".
While I absolutely believe that the Lord does, in fact, use discipline for punishment, I now felt confident that that was not the case for us in this particular instance. I felt His peace, that passes all understanding, showing me that He will use this time of hardship in order to grow us into the people that He wants us to be.
Verse 12 goes on to say ...
"God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness."
Of course God wants to train us.
Of course He wants to teach us obedience and self-control.
Of course He wants to mold us and perfect us.
God wants us to share in His holiness.
What an AMAZING thought!
Oh Lord, I pray that you will continue to discipline us ... to train us ... to mold and perfect us. I pray that we would not whine and complain when we endure hardship, in order to produce discipline.
Thank you, Lord, for treating us as your sons (and daughters). Thank you for loving us enough to discipline us (whether as punishment or as training).
And, Lord, while I pray that you would help us to be content in this time of hardship, I would be remiss to not admit that it is HARD. It is NOT fun!
Father God, I pray that you would move us out of this time of hardship, and that you would move us onto the next step of this journey. I pray that you would make it possible for us to live with Papa ... that we could live together ... worship together ... minister together ... once again.
Thank you, Lord, for ALL that you have taught us in this time. Help us to always remember the teachings learned in hardship, and not to become complacent once this current hardship is removed.
Thank you Lord ...
... for all that you are.
... for all that you have done for us.
... for all that you are teaching us.
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Thank you......
ReplyDeletePRAYING!
Thank you! Can I re-post this? It's a great reminder.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Amen, Amen!
ReplyDeleteI, too, dwelled on that question/ passage in my BSF homework. Particularly, "that we might share in his holiness." WOW!
These last two years have been soooo HARD in soooo many ways. Most of the time, my circumstances looked fine... but internally, God was in the midst of some major reconstructive surgery.
It took me a long time to realize that this season of discipline was not meant to be "punishing" but lovingly refining.
Now, as I close this chapter and prepare for whatever He has planned next, I look back on this long season with gratitude. The Lord has done so much to mold me and produce obedience. I am so radically different because of all the Lord has done. Despite all the hardship and pain, I would not trade these last two years for anything.
Love this post! Took me right back to this quote from Steve McVey I read on his blog a while ago:
ReplyDelete"But doesn't God discipline His children?" somebody recently wrote me. The answer is, "Yes, He does but we need to make sure we know the difference between punishment and discipline." Punishment is retribution. It's payback. Punishment has no redemptive value for the one experiencing it. Discipline is another matter. The root of the word "discipline" is "disciple," a word that means "a learner."
So, our Father will lovingly allow us at times to experience the painful consequence of sinful choices in order to teach us. He wants us to learn that when we try to find fulfillment by doing our own thing, it is a dead-end road. Literally. He wants us to see that it is only "in His presence [that we find] fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11). When discipline comes to us, it isn't payback and it isn't because our Father is angry with us. It is because He loves us and doesn't want to see us repeat the same actions that would cause us to eventually decline and wither into a wasted, destroyed life if He didn't discipline us so that we'd know better.
http://gracewalkministries.blogspot.com/
Susie ... Great quote, and great insights. Yet, I hope that you also saw in my post that sometimes discipline has NOTHING to do with sinful choices. Rather, to be "discipled" ... to be "disciplined" ... is to be trained up. It may have nothing to do with sin or consequences; it may have everything to do with the Lord training us in what he wants us to learn.
ReplyDeleteLaurel, that was one of the most beautiful posts I've read in a long time! One thing I remind myself too, is that God has already punished Jesus for all my sins, so anything I endure now (as far as trial, i.e. discipline is for "training in godliness" and to test my faith...Punishment has been paid in full on the cross! Thank you for some great food for thought this morning!!
ReplyDeletei love when a thought can take me digging, and searching through the scriptures!
ReplyDeleteyou are an encouragement to me :)