Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law. (ESV)

Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law. (NIV)

Dive Deeper

Discipline is often more bitter than sweet up until the point where you are viewing it in the rear-view mirror. 

Proverbs 3:11-12 also gives a metaphor for discipline that I find so helpful. A lens to think through as we wrestle with the tension that God is using what may feel as painful for our good and His glory:

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.

First, I want to acknowledge that, sadly, not everyone can relate to this sentiment. For some, their parents disciplined them out of a fleshly response of anger, rather than out of grace and love. To those who experienced this, I am so sorry. That is not the tender discipline of the Father. This is destructive, not instructive. It’s rooted in selfishness, not intent upon doing what is for your good. It sows sorrow, distrust, and fractured relationships. 

Our Heavenly Father is far better, and He can be trusted. He doesn’t discipline His children out of short-sighted fits of anger meant to shut you down, but out of care and compassion—gently, and patiently with the end goal of building you up. 

His discipline leads to righteousness. To a deeper relationship with Him. His discipline has purpose. Our good, and His glory. Our refinement.

So for those who can relate to Proverbs 3, you may look back at the moments of your childhood when your parents rebuked or corrected you and see it as a blessing. You see it differently than you did at the moment. You’re grateful for their correction. Why? Because they gave you guardrails for life to live within that actually don’t restrict and constrain you, but allow you to flourish. To live a life of true fulfillment. To better interact with those around you. They knew better than you and were sparing you the pain of having to find out the hard way. 

Today, I have a two-year-old and a 10-month-old. When you have kids of your own, you see discipline and pruning in a new light. You’d put your life on the line for your children, so when they do something that you know could hurt them or others, you correct them out of love. You want to protect them with every part of your being. To help them be the happiest, even when they can’t see it. They dwell on the annoyance of the rebuke or timeout, but it’s because they don’t know what you know. 

So when we are in the midst of a season of painful trials, of discipline, of pruning, yes it is hard. It’s uncomfortable. We might ask God, “Why are you allowing this to happen to me?” or “why can’t you take this affliction away?”

But like the child who doesn’t understand why they can’t do whatever they want to do and are being disciplined for it, you may not understand this season right now. Still, endure it patiently. Trust the gardener who cares deeper than you will ever know.

Child, righteousness, and rest are on the other side. Forevermore. Blessed is the one whom He disciplines.

Written by Keaton Hewitt