God’s firm hand of discipline

Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  

God is a wise father who combines the qualities of gentleness and firmness in grooming His sons and daughters. But many sons and daughters of God have a wrong view of their father. They tend to think that God is only gentle, caring and understanding.

Yes, God is all this but there is something more. He is also a strict disciplinarian. He never fails to discipline those who resist or who are slow to conform to His purposes. If we do not rise to the level of God’s purposes through gentle entreaties and persuasion, then we will be obliged to rise to it through His firm hand of discipline.            

The life of Jacob, the twin brother of Esau and son of Isaac, demonstrates this fact of divine discipline so well. He used evil scheming and trickery to cheat His older brother Esau out of his birthright blessings. His evil scheme was successful but he never knew true peace of mind until he owned up his sin before his angry brother. God had chosen to favour and prosper Jacob for a special purpose.

But God was going to do it in His own way and time. Jacob, because of impatience, ran ahead of God and messed up everything. Consequently, he ended up in a bitter relationship with his brother after cheating him. He ran away for fear of his brother’s revenge.   

He entered into agreement with Laban to work for him seven years so he could be given Rachel as a wife. To his surprise, he was cheated by Laban as he was given the older daughter Leah instead of Rachel. He had to work another seven years to get Rachel. He learnt the lesson that it never pays to cheat for you reap what you sow. Jacob ended up with at least four wives.

Polygamy brought strife into the family and strife brought much sorrow to Jacob’s heart. But Jacob was the architect of his own problems. He tried to succeed by stepping on other people’s toes instead of waiting for God’s time. God was always working in his life to bring him back to the divinely predetermined course. Since Jacob had refused the gentle way God had to touch his circumstances. It was not until Jacob had wrestled with God that he found true peace and real blessings. To confirm his transformation of character from being a schemer and a trickster his name was changed to Israel, which means a prince of God.  

God deals with us as His children when He disciplines us. Divine discipline or chastening involves training through His word and hard circumstances. We are expected to endure His discipline knowing that He uses it to transform us into the image of Christ. If we take His discipline with a negative attitude we will not neither grow nor fulfil God’s purposes.

If your circumstances in marriage, employment, business or ministry are too hard for you at the moment, can you trace the way you got there and see if you have not cheated your way through. If you did, then repent and ask God to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. God may be using those hard circumstances to get your attention. You will do well to cooperate with Him because He means it for good and not for evil.

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