Who really likes to talk about discipline? Some trials and suffering in my life God? Yes, please. You won’t go into Borders or your bookstore and find that a book on God’s discipline has crossed over and finally moved the Left Behind display to the back of the store. The Shack won’t be followed up another best seller called The Woodshed (where God takes you when He isn’t baking you scones or hanging out on the lake with you). No one likes to be disciplined, unless you are an ascetic monk in a Dan Brown movie. Yet, somewhere deep down inside us, we realize that this world would be complete chaos if not for the discipline of parents and our governments. Those of us who are parents understand that our kids aren’t just naturally “good” all the time (understatement of the year?). Recently I was pulled over here in Taiwan for turning out of the wrong lane (I used the dumb foreigner excuse, and it worked this time). Of course, I would rather have not been disciplined, but I also am constantly complaining that the police don’t do more with crazy moto drivers that are driving down the wrong side of the road.
We can’t talk about why Christians suffer without talking about the discipline of God. In my experience, the top two reasons Christians think they are suffering are spiritual warfare or discipline of God. I guess which they choose of these two often has to do with how guilty they are feeling, whether they have an angry God concept or not, or whether they think that there is a demon under every rock. Hebrews 12 is one of the best teachings in the New Testament on discipline. The author of Hebrews (insert your favorite theory here) says in 12:7-8, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” The recipients of this letter were going through suffering, and God had shown the author that it was discipline. He gives the always encouraging thought, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Maybe don’t use this line in your next counseling session.
I believe most people think that God’s temporal discipline was only in the old covenant (Old Testament). We read accounts in Joel of locust attacks and say, “Whew, am I glad that I don’t live in Old Testament Israel!” Yes, it is true that we are not bound by the blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. However, the New Testament has narrative and epistle examples of discipline in the church. I already mentioned Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. This is a drastic example, but it had a profound effect, “And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.” An example I don’t always hear much about is in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. The Corinthian church is taking communion in an unholy fashion, and as the judgment of God, Paul says, “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” Wow! I bet we will all think twice now before taking the tasteless wafer and little plastic cup of juice!
The bottom line is that the fear of the Lord in our lives is a GOOD thing. Jews of the Old Testament understood this, and Solomon lays it down in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”. Only dumb people don’t fear God, and personally I would rather avoid both discipline and stupidity in my life. Unfortunately, I hang on to old sins, develop new ones, and eventually need God’s discipline. I have had times when bad things happen in my life, I pray and ask God what is going on, and He tells He is allowing the suffering to discipline me for some sin I need to get rid of. That discipline has taken different forms from illness to busted water lines, and God always tells me because He wants me to change. He knows that the sin is causing harm in my life and in the lives of those around me.
I want to say again that each time we face suffering, we have to go to God and ask Him what is going on. It is not always discipline, just like it is not always from a fallen world. There can be no set answers from us to other people like “there must be sin in the camp” (one of my least favorites for sure, partly because it is a heavy use of Christian jargon that makes us sound like we live on a compound and call our pastor the Prophet). I would rather embrace the fear of the Lord rather than become a grace abuser who is always blaming other people (or God) for bad things. Who’s your Daddy?
The Bible Nerd 