God's Love in God's Discipline
The reproofs of discipline are the way of life. (Prov. 6:23)
Read: Prov. 6:20-23; Eccl. 7:5; Ps 141:5,NIV; Heb. 12:5-11
What Is God Saying?
This is a recurrent theme in Proverbs. Solomon wrote three thousand proverbs and over a thousand songs. He built a great temple and ruled over a united kingdom. To listen to his words is to be helped in practical, down-to-earth sound living. He whose name is a synonym for wisdom wavered tragically when it came to following his own advice, but he does stress the importance of heeding what we don't want to hear to find the life we don't want to miss. In preparation for today's prayer, read Hebrews 12:5-11. It puts the discipline God sends into our lives in its true light, ‘Whom the Lord loves he chastens’ (Heb. 12:6). If we want to walk in the way of life, we must discover that God's will may not always be pleasing, but it is always right.
How Does This Apply To Us?
We don't take kindly to rebuke. Reproof is a bitter pill. We resent it. We will do anything to avoid it. Wisely, the Word of God directs us to accept ways we would not naturally choose. ‘It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke than to listen to the songs of fools’ (Eccles. 7:5 NIV). Easy to listen to a song. It's hard to listen to rebuke. Yet one is the way of life and the other may be the prelude to destruction.
When things cut across the grain of our lives and we resent the intrusion, that is a matter of prayer. Some pain comes into our lives because we are struggling against God's plan. Some pain comes into our lives because of wrong decisions. Other pain is meant to bless. Prayer enables God to let us know which is good and wise, and which is wrong and unnecessary. Take the hard things of life to the Lord. Listening quietly and speaking honestly in prayer, we can discover which trials should be accepted to teach us a lesson and which can be left with the Lord as a burden laid down.
Pray With Me
Loving Father, lead me to the place where I am convinced that Your will is right. I need that which does not come naturally. I need to accept the fact without questioning or hesitating that reproofs of discipline are the way of life. Too often I have thought of discipline as a hindrance to life instead of its best ally. Too often I have resented Your reproofs when I should have known everything You do for me, everything You do to me, everything You do about me is meant to bring greater peace and fuller joy. Too often I have thought of Your discipline as rocks being added to the prison of a restricted life instead of paving stones on the highway to Heaven and freedom.
Now, Lord, I rejoice in knowing that You are the Beginning and the End. Furthermore, You know the end from the beginning, and as I come to realize this, I am more ready to accept the detours and roadblocks that You see are necessary if I am to remain in the way of life. I am sorry that I have allowed little limitations to hide Your wise and loving reproofs. I have been too self-willed, too impulsive, and too limited in my vision to recognize the loving purpose behind all Your corrections. Nevertheless, I am willing, I am wanting You to come to me with Your wise and loving firmness. In Your mercy compel me to accept the reproofs that prove Your love and the discipline that decides my destiny.
In the name of the Master who calls me to the discipline and the glory of discipleship. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Reproofs will never stop coming, but we know how to handle them when they come. Instead of resenting them, in the restless turbulence of a wounded heart, we may keep on presenting them to the Lord. Prayer deals with the hard realities of discipline and grows in strength as we realize where we can take these negative things. God will allow us to keep the true reproofs of discipline that are the way of life. Prayer becomes a way to life and a way of life.
