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Modern preaching shuns the concept of God’s discipline. It teaches instead that if you love God, He will prosper you (read: material blessings). Serve God and He will honour you (read: smooth sailing). Get sick or hit a roadblock – and it is all your fault: you sinned. Yet, the rod of discipline was on mighty men and women of God not just because they needed spiritual smacking – as was the case for some – but also soul stretching.
Jonah was in the belly of a great fish for three nights because he went the opposite direction – south to Tarshish instead of north to Nineveh to preach God’s Word. God forgave David when he repented of his adultery with Bathsheba but the baby from that union died and David’s household was torn with strife. Sometimes, God disciplines to shrink the disobedient heart. Sometimes, God disciplines to stretch the spiritual muscles. Job lost all – family, flocks and finances. Apostle Paul received 30 stripes over five times. He was thrice flogged, once stoned and three times shipwrecked, and more (Ref. 2 Cor. 11:24-27).
Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost For His Highest: “A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain… once in awhile the saint says, ‘I can’t take any more.’ Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, then He lets the arrow fly.” Horatio G. Spafford, a wealthy Chicago businessman lost a son to scarlet fever, his real estates to fire, and later, all four remaining girls in a ship accident. For him, the flying arrow – after these tragedies – was a hymn: It Is Well With My Soul. Missionary Hudson Taylor served God faithfully in China in the 19th Century but buried four children and a pair of stillborn twins there. But his ministry, China Inland Mission, spawned scores of workers to reach the interiors of China
Discipline in Heb. 12:5-11 refers to training that cultivates the soul – to correct mistakes, curb passions and instruct so as to increase virtue. It is hard when our back is against the wall – say, struck with cancer with little funds. But despise not God’s correction nor dissolve in despair. Jesus – God’s Begotten – “endured” (Gk. hypomenō or remained under) the Father’s will to the end. As God’s children, we have to do the same.
