Our Father's Discipline

"Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."
Deuteronomy 8:5

"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
and do not resent His rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those He loves,
as a father the son he delights in."
Proverbs 3:9-10

I'm not a father but I often think about how I might deal with situations as a father.  I don't have any fatherly stories per-say but I think I understand these verses.

Yesterday I was sitting by a campfire with my good friends' son C.J.  C.J. is two years-old and is a fun boy.  Before we sat by the fire we were running around and playing and having a good time.  Then we sat by the fire and he stood up to walk a safe distance from the fire.

I said, "C.J. don't get close to that fire, it is hot."

"Okay." He replied.

Then as he was walking he started to back up and got dangerously close to the fire.  I shot up and grabbed him.  After grabbing him I sat him down and looked him sternly in the eye and told him not to get close to the fire.  I told him he needed to listen to what I said earlier about the fire.  I told him that I loved him and didn't want him to get burned.

His eyes watered a bit and his front lip started to pout.  I had ruined his fun and he was sad that fun Matt was giving him the stern look that his parents sometimes give him.  He immediately wanted to get away from Matt because the fun was obviously over in his mind.

Why did I have to get stern (something I'm not very good at) with C.J. for a moment?  Because I love him and want him to be safe.  I didn't want to ruin his fun.  I didn't hate his freedom to walk around, I hated the thought of him getting hurt.

God is our heavenly father.  When He disciplines us He is showing us His love.  He doesn't want us to get burned, but we look at him with our lip pouted and tears in our eyes when He corrects us.  We look at Him like He ruined our fun when in reality He protects us.


"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
and do not resent His rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those He loves,
as a father the son he delights in."

Many times we want to love God when we are running around and playing in His blessings.  Remember He disciplines those He loves.  His discipline is done out of the same passionate love that Christ had for us on while He was hanging on the cross.  As difficult as it may be, appreciate the Lord's discipline today.