May 9, 2023

Scripture: Proverbs 3:11-12 – “My son, 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.”

What it means

The book of Proverbs has been widely attributed to King Solomon, but as I discovered during my latest COS class, it actually had several authors who contributed to the writing of this book – but since Solomon wrote the majority of it, he ends up getting the credit for it most of the time. There’s no real structure to this book – just a collection of wise sayings that are supposed to help us to live life more completely and correctly. It was eye-opening to me to look at this book and realize how much of what was written thousands of years ago is still applicable to us in 2023…somehow, we don’t change as much as we think that we do. In these two verses of scripture, we are forced to accept the fact that God does, in fact, hand down discipline and the occasional rebuke to those that he loves.

What it means to me

This can be a hard lesson for us to embrace – oftentimes we are much more comfortable with God being like a loving grandfather who never raises his voice or punishes us, no matter what we do…He is all about love, is He not? Well, yes, He is…but as part of that love, occasionally we need a little swat on the rear-end for something that we have done to reign us back in and get us back on track – just like a father, according to the scripture. For all you parents out there, you get this…sometimes we have to lower the boom on our kids, not because we enjoy it, or are mean people…but for the exact opposite reason: we love them too much to let them get too far off track. We tend to think of having to follow rules as oppressive and stifling, but again, au contraire…they are there for a purpose, and that purpose is to help us to eventually blossom into the Godly men and women that we are capable of being. So, if you find yourself having to face consequences for something you have done, don’t be resentful…thank God for loving you that much to actually care.

Love you guys, talk to you on Thursday!

In Christ,

Brian