Hello! After some vacation time The Up Devotional is back to your email inboxes, social media feeds and podcast platforms five mornings a week!

Today let’s look at Proverbs 3:11-12: “My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

What comes to mind when you hear the word “discipline”? Perhaps you think about punishment. It makes a lot of people think about negative things.

When it comes to this proverb, however, I encourage you to think more broadly.

At its heart, discipline is about encouraging a change in behaviour through difficulty and teaching. When a child does something they shouldn’t they endure a consequence like not getting to watch TV for a week. That is a form of discipline. 

So is training for a sports event. We tend to call that “self-discipline,” but it’s still discipline.

Today’s proverb encourages us to see God’s discipline as an act of love. I’m not saying that every hardship you experience is an act of discipline. You need to discern what is and what isn’t. But there are times when hardship can be understood as God’s loving discipline.

When I discipline my children by giving them a consequence for bad behaviour and teaching them about what they should or shouldn’t do, it’s not because I don’t love them, but because I do! A lack of discipline in a child’s life is not an act of care, but a lack of care.

Think back to times in your past when you went through something difficult. Are there certain challenges which have made you stronger or wiser? Discipline prepares you for what might lie ahead in life.

What if God was working through some of your hardships to make you stronger and wiser? What if he was preparing you to be a blessing to someone you care about a little further down the road?

I really, really love my three children. That’s nothing compared to the love that God has for his people. He wants the best for his own.

Trust his love. Rest in it. 

Trust his wisdom. Learn from it. 

Trust his path. Walk in it. 

Persevere.

“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.