Why does God discipline us?
In vain I have chastened your children; they received no correction." Jeremiah 2:30.
The Israelites (God's people) repeatedly ignored God's discipline (Jer. 2:30). The Lord was grieved that they were unwilling to admit their wrongdoing and change their ways.
I have encountered heartbroken parents with similar feelings about their children. One young minister at his father's funeral spoke gratefully of his parents' corrective measures when he was a rebellious teenager. He said that when he was a boy, he was picked up by a policeman for throwing stones in a place where he could have caused great damage. The officer told his father that if he had disciplined his son that it would not be necessary to turn him over to the juvenile authorities. The young minister recalled that seeing the look on his father's face made him wish he would have been handed over to the juvenile authorities. Yet he knew that his father truly loved him. As he grew up, he continued to need discipline, but because he respected his father and was quick to admit his wrong, he became a responsible adult.
God is our Father, and as a loving and perfect Father, He shows His love by correcting us when we go astray. This is not because He is mad at us or thinks we are stupid, but that He wants the best for us. When we mess up (and we all do), He disciplines us out of love...to straighten us out and make us mature spiritually.
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.... 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." Hebrews 12:5-11.
