Proverbs 3:11-12 My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline, and don't be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.
1 Peter 4:12-13 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad- for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
These scriptures greeted me one morning last week and I knew that the Lord was speaking to me. They spoke on the same subject and were just part of my Bible reading on the same day. Something was up and it troubled me most of the day until I saw the reason they were spoken. The circumstances that day are not important but I will say the verses were dead on and spoke to the specific situation I was having to deal with that very day.
You have likely had moments in life like that. While your life is likely full of many good and happy things, it also has some moments that are just hard. You have had to endure a trial of some kind that wasn't fun at all. It seemed to suck the life and joy out of you, leaving you feeling alone with no one to turn to. Many times you may have gotten through those moments wondering what that was all about. What was the purpose in it?
At times you may have even wondered if your circumstances were a punishment for the bad things you have done. Maybe God finally got fed up with you and decided to punish you really good for what you had done and show you who's the boss. In our world today the line between discipline and punishment has been blurred. Discipline is generally viewed as corrective in nature or a teaching moment. Discipline definitely has a sting to it, but its purpose is to instruct so the person does not go that way again. Punishment, on the other hand, is retribution for something someone has done. In Old Testament times the "eye for an eye" law stands out as an example. If you poked out my eye and were found guilty of doing that, I could do the same to you as your punishment. If you burned my house to the ground, I could do the same to you. There is a small teaching component (fear of the punishment) and a large component of just making the person pay for their actions. These two concepts overlap pretty often, so I won't spend time unpacking a bunch of different examples.
Let's focus on the Lord's discipline, though. Its purpose is the same as stated above: his aim is to teach and correct so that we don't go that particular way again. It can go much deeper though. If you are being tested like Job was, the discipline you experience isn't because you were going the wrong way but instead is intended to deepen your commitment to the Lord.
Romans 5:3-4- We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
King David experienced discipline after committing adultery with Bathsheba, stating in Psalm 31 that his body "wasted away" and that he "groaned all day long" and that his "strength evaporated like water in the summer heat." And once David finally confessed his sin, the son conceived in his adulterous affair with Bathsheba died. David's actions brought the death of Bathsheba's husband, and the Lord took the life of someone dear to David. All of that was because David refused to confess his sin. Yet David's response to all of it was correct, and I believe it was in the Lord's plan. We see in 2 Samuel 12 that he spent time in prayer and fasting prior to the child's death, and afterward he went to the temple to worship the Lord. He got closer to the Lord in spite of it all, and he felt the heavy hand of the Lord's discipline.
The Apostle Paul was also disciplined, being chained to a Roman guard in a dungeon for several years simply for speaking the name of Jesus. Shortly after Paul met Jesus for the first time on the Damascus road, Jesus himself stated that he would "show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake." Paul, it seems, would be disciplined over and over again through suffering intended to deepen his commitment to the Lord. Paul in fact did experience that throughout his life, experiencing beatings and shipwrecks and having to run for his life over and over and over again, all because he followed Jesus. The trials, however, brought Paul closer to the Lord.
Moses was disciplined in the desert for 40 years after killing an Egyptian. This discipline involved herding sheep in a deserted place for his father in law, leading a life of complete isolation and insignificance. God had to show Moses where real power and influence come from, and the source wasn't within Moses. The Moses who steps out of the desert 40 years later is a man who is entirely different than the one who walked into it. He is humble and realizes how weak he truly is, and God moved so powerfully in him as a result that he made himself known to an entire country through plagues and the escape through the Red Sea.
Old Testament Joseph was also disciplined by the Lord for 13 years, living a life in slavery and imprisonment before being lifted up to be prime minister of Egypt. The Lord had to show Joseph that there was a bigger plan that he was a part of, and taught him to wait on the Lord and trust as he waited.
There was great purpose in each of these men being disciplined. God had specific things in mind that each of them needed to learn. The discipline for each of them was quite painful. For some, it was emotional pain. For others, it was physical pain. For others, they experienced both physical and mental pain. Discipline from the Lord, it seems, doesn't feel good and is an experience that we humans do not enjoy.
The purpose of discipline from God is that you and I learn something new about God. It's far too simple to think he simply wants to "impart wisdom" to us or toughen us up. God's purpose in your life, his end for you, is himself. While you and I may experience other benefits from being disciplined, his main purpose is that we would simply know him better. To know him better is to trust him more. To trust him more means he can do greater things in your life than you ever imagined. And when he can do greater things in your life, he gets the glory for it because with you it is just flat out impossible. It's the difference between walking across a canyon on a bridge with nice sturdy guardrails versus crossing the same canyon on a tightrope with nothing to hang on to. Nobody is amazed by walking across a bridge; everyone is in awe of the one who walks unsupported.
Could the Apostle Paul have evangelized and church planted the huge area that he did on his own? Sure, but it wouldn't have taken off like it did.
Could Philip on his own evangelized all of Africa? Very unlikely, but God used a moment in time on a "chance" encounter with an Ethiopian (Acts 8) to make a way for that to happen by using Philip on one encounter. And God gets the credit for that, as he should.
Could Moses have read a bunch of leadership and strategy books and effectively have lead the Israelites out of Egypt on his own? Perhaps, but then there's the whole problem with the Red Sea. So God instead chose to turn a plan that should have taken months into a plan that took 40 years. And Moses, refined, the new Moses, was the product.
I'm not sure what you are going through right now that is discipline from the Lord. You may be waiting on something and you have been waiting a really long time for it. Don't stop waiting.
You may have thought that your life over the next 5 years would look one way and it turned out looking like something entirely different, and you are disappointed.I just want to remind you that it has a greater purpose. Don't give in.
You may have become a Christ follower, thinking that God would use you to influence many people for Jesus and yet you find yourself with no one. Maybe you didn't do anything wrong. Maybe that was God's plan all along.
Discipline from the Lord is painful. The Lord knows that, sees that, and allows it anyway. You may be a Moses in the making. You may be Elijah in the desert following a huge spiritual victory, camping by a dried up spring, asking the Lord just to end it all. Just remember that the Lord's plan, his primary plan, is to change YOU and to make YOU know him better. So rather than fighting it, rest in that instead. Your Father cares so much for you that he would shut off all of those earthly items of "significance" in your life just so you would know him better.
Instead of isolating yourself and believing the lie that it is all without purpose, I encourage you to go to the Lord in prayer. Find a quiet spot and put your phone away. Ask the Lord what it is about and read scripture prayerfully, asking God to speak. You may not be able to figure out what it is all about just yet. Moses and Joseph surely didn't. But what you will find is your heavenly Father who is waiting on you with open arms, ready to embrace and comfort and strengthen you for those times when you need it most.
So go to him, run to him, stop, and listen.
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