This morning I came face to face once again with that troubling statement in Hebrews 12:7(NIV) "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons." Then the questions flooded my mind. The broken heart of a mother whose child has died - God's discipline? The loss of a job - God's discipline? A sudden disabling accident - God's discipline? A diagnosis of cancer or sudden heart attack - God's discipline?
Are we to take from this that God treats us as His kids by bringing hardship upon us OR does He treat us as His kids by going through the hardship with us rather than rescuing us from hardship, using it supernaturally to grow our faith and to produce godly character in us?
In addition to a careful consideration of the surrounding context of this verse, I looked at some other English translations to help me understand better what God wants me to learn here.
The King James version of the same verse: "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons." And the paraphrase, The Message: "This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training."
The first 13 verses of Hebrews 12 teach us that to 'win' in the spiritual journey we must be willing to submit to our heavenly Coach like Jesus did.
A good coach who wants an athlete to discover the greatness within and to compete to win will subject that competitor to discipline; discipline as training, not punishment. No good coach would punish an athlete to get more out of them. Punishment would break the spirit and result in resentment and rebellion. That's not to say that God doesn't punish His kids when we've got it coming. But this passage is about discipline; God's effort as a loving, divine Father to help us become the best we can be for His glory.
Think about the following verses and what they say about how God views hardship and suffering in the lives of His children:
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4 (NIV).
"[Let us] rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4 (NIV).
These verses teach us that God wants us to see hardship, trials and suffering as having redemptive value. Though there's nothing inherently good about suffering, the Bible teaches that suffering can produce positive results in our faith and character when through it we are drawn closer to God and into a life of greater trust in Him. Maybe that's why He doesn't bail us out of every trial. Maybe that's why we are urged to "endure hardship as discipline."
Let me hear from you on this.
4 comments:
Don - Thanks for the time and effort it takes to share your daily blog with us. I spent some time looking through them this morning and find them very helpful and useful. You are a key player in the renewal of my spiritual journey and I appreciate it very much. glad that God whispered tp you to continue your blog.
Steve
Don, I've found your thoughts to be so true in my life. I've also found that keeping this perspective through the hardship is more difficult than talking about it when I am not going through a hard life circumstance. Now, that I have had several hard life circumstances to face and I have been able to experience the good God has enabled from them, it has been come easier to maintain this perspective. I have found that it may or may not always be what the world calls "good", but it is always the eternal good that leads us closer to be the people God has called and created us to be.
Your thoughts lead me to the truth in Romans 8:28.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I helps me stay on track. It causes me to examine what role I had to play in the hard circumstances and know the actions or thoughts I need to change. Most of all it reminds me of the responsibility I have in my love relationship with God and to renew my vows. Then I can proceed on through the hard circumstance knowing that I can trust Him with the outcome of the hard circumstance.....and there will be "His good" in it. Thanks for your words.....God Bless, Jan
Don, Thank you for giving me direction in my search to be a better me. I enjoy your words each monrning.
Don-I thoroughly enjoyed this devotion! The two verses that you chose are very dear to me. The verse in James has been a favorite of mine for many years now and the one in Romans is one that I have been especially touched by in the past few months. I really valued reading your perspective on these verses. Please keep sharing!
-christie
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