We live in a world where people seem to think they can do whatever they wish, even that which clearly violates God’s commands, and get away with it. Even many who say they believe in God fall prey to the line of thinking that God didn’t really mean what He said about sin and its consequences. He won’t discipline us. After all, they reason, He is a God of love and grace. If God disciplines us, then He must be a mean God, they reason, rather than a loving One.
Would a Loving God Really Discipline Us?
Absolutely! God explains it this way:
And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. (Heb. 12:5-6) If you are not disciplined – and everyone undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. (Heb. 12:8)
God wants more than happy people. He wants holy people, those whose righteous character enables them to truly love Him and others (Matt. 22:37-40) and be at peace with themselves. And so we read, “… God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:10-11)
When we properly react to His discipline, we come out better. We are restored. That’s not the objective of a mean God, of a God who is simply out to get us by making us suffer consequences for sin. That’s the intent of a God who deeply cares and loves us beyond measure.
Example of Being Disciplined But Not Forgotten
Read through the Old Testament and you’ll find God’s people, Judah, constantly turning away from God to follow after the gods of the nations surrounding them. Yet, God had clearly commanded them that they should have no other gods before Him or make idolatrous images, worshiping them. He also stressed consequences of disobeying this command. (See Exodus 20:1-6.)
Judah suffered consequences for their sin but then God sent judges to lead them back to Himself. When a judge died, however, they reverted back to their sinful ways and so the cycle continued. God sent prophets to warn them but they persisted in their rebellion. They had to suffer more severe consequences, so God sent them into exile to Babylon for seventy years.
Read what God told them:
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jer. 29:10-14)
That’s a loving God!! He may discipline His people, but He doesn’t forget them. When we undergo hardships, let’s look at it from God’s perspective. If we fight against Him and the means He’s using to work in our lives, we could miss out on the good He desires to bring us. — “…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.” (Prov. 3:11-12) “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Cor. 7:10)