God’s Discipline

“Lord, in distress we searched for you. We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline. Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord. We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world. But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!”
Isaiah 26:16-19 NLT

Discipline. Not a popular word; one that conjures up memories of detention at school, or, for those of more mature years, the thought of the tawse, a leather strap with split ends used in Scottish schools by a teacher to keep classroom order. For a child, some form of discipline is necessary to keep them on the “straight and narrow” path so that they know the difference between right and wrong and choose the former more often than the latter. “Why can’t I?” is a familiar wail from a child when refused permission to do something. But no one likes being told what to do. There is something within a human being that rebels against the very thought that what they want to do is unacceptable. Solomon’s proverbs contain many references to the right way, God’s way, of living, and he wrote them for a particular reason: “Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair” (Proverbs 1:2-3). It is fascinating that most of the proverbs he wrote still apply today.

The Israelites were guilty of going their own way, ignoring the instructions God gave them for a long and fruitful life, as recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy. Instead of worshipping God, they chose idols as a better bet. Instead of following His laws, they invented their own. And in Isaiah’s day, they were reaping the consequences of the evil seeds that they had sown. Whenever that happened, God allowed circumstances to build until the people turned back to Him. In Hebrews 12:5-6 we read, “And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child””. The Lord always intends to train His children to repent and turn back to Him when they have chosen to go their own way. He wants them to return to the path of life and blessing that He has provided for them. The Lord’s discipline is a loving action, not a punishment to make His loved ones “pay” for their sin.

Isaiah then compares the pain of discipline to a woman’s pains as she prepares to give birth to her child. She cries out as each new contraction comes. Each breath brings more intense pain as the birth gets closer. Isaiah tells the Lord that the pain He has caused them is similar, growing greater with each new season of God’s discipline. Many believers are surprised by the thought that God disciplines His followers, His children. But God increases the painfulness of the discipline over time if His children don’t respond by repenting and turning back to Him. Israel’s distress grew with each passing day as they continued in their unfaithfulness to the Lord. Someone once said that if a believer doesn’t experience God’s discipline at some time in their lives, then they should go back to their roots in Him, back to the Cross, and start afresh with repentance for their sins. How many people sit in the pews each Sunday, going through the liturgical motions, singing the hymns, but not knowing the God they worship? Jesus said, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). It’s a scary thought that people who profess to be Christians will be turned away at the gates of Heaven.

God’s discipline is there to ensure that His followers, pilgrims like you and me, do His will in every part of their lives. But God doesn’t demand we do His will just because He feels like it. Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We have God’s Word, the Bible, to help us on our journeys through life, and we must read it to find the treasures contained therein. But not just read it. We must follow the precepts that God has put in there for a purpose. A Christian’s life starts at the Cross, but so many people seem to camp there, unable to move on in the journey to the Glory that awaits them one day. Salvation is often understood as a believer’s three-stage journey. Justification is the first, instantaneous stage where God declares a believer righteous and frees them from the penalty of sin. Sanctification (the ongoing process of holiness) and glorification (the final eternal state) follow. God’s discipline is there to keep us on the narrow way to life. Jesus said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

But we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares for us. He doesn’t want us to divert onto the wrong road and miss out on the eternal life He has promised us. So He disciplines us when necessary. What form does His discipline take? Well, there are many. For example, we can experience a deep loss of inner peace, a heavy conscience, or a restless spirit. Difficulties at work, instability at home, or strained relationships may force a person to re-evaluate their choices. Sometimes God will allow people to experience the natural, painful fallout of their own poor decisions or sinful actions. In extreme situations, His discipline might come through rebukes, advice, or confrontation from fellow believers or our pastors. But through it all, there is one place we need to go when things are not as they should be, and that is into God’s presence. On our knees we pray for direction and help in dealing with our problems. A good prayer to start with we find in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. God will never refuse such a prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father. You discipline us when we need discipline. You encourage us when we need encouragement. But in everything You do, it is because You love us. On our knees before You today, we pray David’s prayer that You search our hearts for anything that shouldn’t be there. We want to be pure and holy as You require, and continue on our Heavenly journey, day by day. Amen.

“Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.”
1 Corinthians 10:5-8 NLT

These verses today are in a section of my Bible entitled “Lessons from Israel’s Idolatry”. Paul was deeply troubled by the news of events unfolding in the Corinthian church. This situation was particularly influenced by the type of society in which the Corinthian believers lived, characterised by its emphasis on idol worship and the flagrant immorality that accompanied it. Part of the problem as well was that some of the Corinthians joined in with the idolatrous meals, eating meat that had been offered to idols, and in the process, upsetting more sensitive Christians who would not touch anything even remotely associated with idols. In Exodus 32, there is the account of the Golden Calf episode, where the Israelites persuaded Aaron to make a calf out of the gold jewellery donated by the people. In Exodus 32:6b, we read, “ … After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry”. Moses was up the mountain, and the Lord told him what was going on in the camp. He said to Moses, “How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt’”” (Exodus 32:8). Idolatry, pure and simple. The punishment was brutal, and we read later on that three thousand idolaters were killed by the Levites. “Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbours.” The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day” (Exodus 32:7-8). But the retribution didn’t end there, and the last verse in Exodus 32 reads, “Then the Lord sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshipped the calf Aaron had made”.

Paul warned the Corinthians about what would happen if God wasn’t pleased with them because of their idolatry. He implied that death would result, and that they should consider the events in the wilderness all those years ago as a warning. But it was clear that the Corinthians misunderstood what many Christians still misunderstand today. They believed their freedom in Christ—their freedom from following the law of Moses—meant they were free to indulge in sinful desires without fear of consequences from the Lord. But we pilgrims, of course, maintain that we don’t worship idols, picturing a Golden Calf hanging there in our imaginations. But there are many other kinds of idols that we need to be aware of. An idol is anything that takes the place of God, and when we consider that, we find that perhaps we do find objects or even people that we can idolise. A sobering thought for us Christians today.

There is also the issue of sexual immorality, another blight on the Corinthian societal landscape. Paul wrote, “And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did”. And he continued with a warning about the consequences of such a sin, as we read in Numbers 25. The Israelites were in proximity to Moab, and we read in Numbers 25:1, “While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women”. Summary justice resulted in one wrongdoer being put to death, having been caught in the act, and a plague followed that killed 24,000 people. “ … Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died” (Numbers 25:8-9)—gruesome details but a sombre warning to the Corinthian believers.

So what about us pilgrims today? Idolatry and sexual immorality are two sins that have been a curse for the human race for many years. While it’s true that believers are saved from damnation through faith in Christ by God’s grace, Paul’s message is that believers everywhere must understand that the Lord will discipline them in this life, if necessary. Will that discipline come from plagues or even death? Will an idolatrous or immoral believer suffer an early death? Not necessarily to both these questions, but we should never underestimate the power of God’s justice. God, in His grace and mercy, will award plenty of time before He feels He has to act, and we must never assume that just because God is apparently turning a blind eye to our misdemeanours, that He is ignoring them.

Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for Your grace, mercy and love, limitless and constant. Please forgive us for our waywardness and sins. We pray with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. Amen.

How God’s Discipline Shapes Our Journey

Some Of Them Did