More About Discipline

And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." (Hebrews 12:5-6)

Why would I faint when reproved by God? I think one prominent reason would be if I thought that His discipline was coming in the same way and with the same spirit that the abusive discipline was administered to me in my childhood. That would be a big cause for becoming very discouraged and not seeing any useful outcome for the discipline. It would only reinforce the negative ideas about God induced in me through years of faulty discipline.

I believe that it is only after I begin to really get a glimpse of the real truth about God and the ways in which He relates to His children in contrast with the mistakes of others who have used counterfeit methods that I will be able to accept “healthy” discipline from God without fainting. It is only when a person accrues a certain amount of confidence in the trustworthiness of a superior that they can entrust themselves to the various means necessary for mentoring including discipline. If I have not first learned to trust the heart of God and His unfailing goodness and His good desires for my life, then I will be too suspicious and fearful to trust Him when circumstances seem to scream that He is trying to punish me someway for some reason other than good intentions toward me. It will only reflect the tragic and twisted notions about God's wrath so prevalent in the world today.

For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines. At first glance this seems to ring with the same hypocrisy that it had whenever my Dad would say those words about the reason he wanted to beat me. Somehow it did not correspond very well with the spirit that I sensed from him or the way that he was relating to me. I am not saying at all that my Dad did not love me in some way – I am very sure he did. But at the same time, using that reasoning to justify venting his frustration and anger on me through whippings was not an effective expression of his love and did not even accomplish what he hoped for. I now realize that the reason he did that was for lack of knowing what else to do from his own lack of proper mentoring and he was at the limit of his abilities to know how to properly express love in the raising of children. He had never experienced love in his life, had not even had a father of his own to relate to, and therefore did not know what it looked or felt like to be nurtured and mentored properly. This was the best he knew how to do and was also very common in the culture in which he lived, but that did not prevent it from badly distorting the image of God in my soul. Very sadly I realize that I did not do much better myself with my own children.

It is not only until very recent years that I have begun to perceive the radical difference of the passionate love that God has for me in contrast to the dark, distorted methods sometimes used by my parents and other authorities. The more I learn about the startling truths of the real gospel the more I see the ugliness of human counterfeits and substitutes of that love. But the more I learn about the beauty, attractiveness and trustworthiness of God the easier it is for me to trust Him when my feelings are telling me its not really true. Its like learning to believe the sun is still really shining even when it has been overcast for days. That is what I think this phrase is talking about, do not faint when you are reproved by Him.

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:7)

I find the first part of this verse very curious. I think I am going to wait and see what else God wants to show me about this because it seems to be one of those places in the Bible that is like a trap door hiding all sorts of interesting things just underneath it. If you have any ideas feel free to share them with me. God can talk with you just as quickly as with me if you are interested in listening.

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