God's Discipline

Daily Reading: Jeremiah 24

Scripture Focus: I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. (Jeremiah 24.6-7)

Devotional Thought: I remember as a young lad of about 8 or 9 years of age being disciplined for a foolish act that resulted in terrible consequences.  My younger brother and I were playing in the woods, and we just so happened to be playing in the “fort” our older brothers had made.  I also just so happened to have a book of matches with me.  While I didn’t intentionally mean to burn down our brothers’ fort or some of the surrounding wooded acres, that was the result.

My mother was of small stature (under 5’) and was a very kind, gentle woman.  However, I can attest to her fiery wrath of discipline.  But Mom still loved me.  (I was always her favorite, but don’t tell my brother!)  Hebrews 12.11 was at work in my life: " For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

In these verses from Jeremiah, while God was promising good things to the Jewish nation, we see that the Israelites had forsaken God.  They repeatedly ignored God’s warnings of discipline.  It had gotten to the point where God was not going to wait any longer.  According to God’s word, he actually fought against his chosen people (Jeremiah 21.5).  Many Jews had already been taken captive to Babylon, and very soon the rest were heading there.  Yet even in this context, God promised - and God provided - good things for the Jews. 

Do you feel like God is disciplining you?  Take heart, friend.  It means God loves you and wants to give you a new heart. 

John Wade

Prayer:  Lord, help us to see your blessings even when things seem negative.  Help us to turn to you.  Through your Son we pray, Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 118.14-18

14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

15 Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,

16 the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly! ”

17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.

18 The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.