Godly Discipline (August 17)

Bible Reading

• Job 35-36
• Proverbs 23
• 2 Peter 3

Job 36:15-16 But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity. “God is leading you away from danger, Job, to a place free from distress. He is setting your table with the best food.

Job 36:21 Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.

While Elihu was a bit skewed in his theology, some of what he said was true. These words are some of them. While Job’s trails were not a punishment for sin, we know from 1 Peter 4:1-3 that God’s desire in trials is to lead us away from living for our own desires. There is nothing like hardship and difficulty to get our eyes off ourselves and onto God! Even the ungodly turn to God when tragedy hits. “God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.” Elihu was under the impression Job was living an evil life and this was sent to rebuke him and to turn him from it. While that was not true, God’s desire in trials is still to get our eyes off of our own evil desires and on to Him!

Prov 23:12-14 Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge. Don’t fail to discipline your children. The rod of punishment won’t kill them. Physical discipline may well save them from death.

Physical discipline… This is what Job’s counselors thought God was doing to Job. And sometimes God does use trials and suffering as discipline. But, in Job’s life we know the physical suffering was not a result of sin. But what happened was still allowed / designed to lead Job away from evil and to God. Isn’t that the purpose of discipline?

What is spiritual discipline? It’s giving up my fleshly, self focused life to live focused on God. Instead of spending my time living for self, it is choosing to cease from sin, and living for God. That’s 1 Peter 4:1-3.

Prov 23:26 O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.

The only way we delight in following God’s ways is when we give up our own. It is through trials, discipline, suffering etc, we give our hearts to God. When we do, then our eyes begin to take delight in following God’s ways. (1 Peter 4:3)

2 Peter 3:14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

2 Peter 3:17-18 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.

Heavenly Father, may our trials and suffering lead us to abandoning our propensity to live for ourselves. May the words of 1 Peter 1:2 become true.

• As a result of these difficulties that you allow, or put in our lives, may it lead us to “not spend the rest of our lives chasing our own desires, but to be anxious to do the will of God.”
• May we “make every effort” (2 Peter 3:14) to be found living a pure and blameless life, as a result of suffering. May the events you put into our lives cause us to give you our heart.
• May it lead us to take delight in following your ways and not living for ourselves! (Prov 23:26)