11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in
Proverbs 3: 11-12
There's a large, plastic play castle on the smaller of the two playgrounds of the daycare where I work. One wall of the castle that connects to the wall where a small orange slide comes down has been unattached for some time. The reason being, the kids constantly open this side to make an extra door to run through while chasing and hiding from each other. The thick plastic of the play castle is stable enough that it still stands on the ground, but the children make it a habit to climb up onto the side of the wall and sit on the broken side and rock it back and forth. Images of small three year old tumbling head first into the middle of the castle flood my mind as I watch this, but no matter how many times I warn them to get down or they'll fall they neither listen nor do they fall. They've probably stopped listening because they haven't yet fallen and I'll be honest, I've been tempted on occasion to push them off the wall when one of them tells me, "I won't fall teacher". *Push* "Whelp, you just did!"
I was thinking about this story in conjunction with God's discipline today as I was driving to my oh so wonderful Saturday class. How often do we disobey God because we're convinced we won't fall? How interesting that this is the lie the serpent used with Adam and Eve in the garden. "God didn't really mean what he said. He was exaggerating what would happen. He's just trying to keep something from you." God's intentions, like mine with my students, is to keep them from falling and getting hurt; not to spoil their fun. But with God, unlike me, he knows the inevitable consequences of our disobedience. Occasionally, however, God lets us fall to learn from our own stubbornness and disobedience. But it would do us all well to heed his cautions and warnings and remember that a good parent disciplines his child.
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in
Proverbs 3: 11-12
There's a large, plastic play castle on the smaller of the two playgrounds of the daycare where I work. One wall of the castle that connects to the wall where a small orange slide comes down has been unattached for some time. The reason being, the kids constantly open this side to make an extra door to run through while chasing and hiding from each other. The thick plastic of the play castle is stable enough that it still stands on the ground, but the children make it a habit to climb up onto the side of the wall and sit on the broken side and rock it back and forth. Images of small three year old tumbling head first into the middle of the castle flood my mind as I watch this, but no matter how many times I warn them to get down or they'll fall they neither listen nor do they fall. They've probably stopped listening because they haven't yet fallen and I'll be honest, I've been tempted on occasion to push them off the wall when one of them tells me, "I won't fall teacher". *Push* "Whelp, you just did!"
I was thinking about this story in conjunction with God's discipline today as I was driving to my oh so wonderful Saturday class. How often do we disobey God because we're convinced we won't fall? How interesting that this is the lie the serpent used with Adam and Eve in the garden. "God didn't really mean what he said. He was exaggerating what would happen. He's just trying to keep something from you." God's intentions, like mine with my students, is to keep them from falling and getting hurt; not to spoil their fun. But with God, unlike me, he knows the inevitable consequences of our disobedience. Occasionally, however, God lets us fall to learn from our own stubbornness and disobedience. But it would do us all well to heed his cautions and warnings and remember that a good parent disciplines his child.
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