DISCIPLINE IS ESSENTIAL

In the closing chapters of 2 Kings, Israel has been taken captive by the nation of Assyria.  Both Israel and Judah have been warned by prophets and this is the account of the record keeper of 2 Kings 17, "But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God."  

Before the fall of Adam and Eve, security was a given blessing, however with the fall, even the desire to be secure became corrupted with self expressions..."I will do anything to ensure the happiness of my__________."  No price to pay is too much and the "end justifies the means" of how I experience security and all its blessings.  Because Israel would not trust in their God and kept adding more religious idols and practices thinking this would assuage the anger of God against their sins, God has withdrawn His protection and has allowed Israel to go into exile in Assyria. 

A faithful and loving parent is willing to discipline his or her child.  From the pastor and author, Chip Ingram, Effective Parenting in a Defective World,  Hebrews 12:4-11,"The means of discipline: actions and words (v. 5). In the Proverbs 3:11 passage that is quoted in Hebrews, two different Hebrew words are used: yasar (discipline), which involves God's actions; and yakach (rebuke), which refers to God's words. Hebrews 12:5 tells us not to make light of God's actions and not to lose heart at His words of rebuke. Yasar refers to disciplinary actions; yakach refers to corrective words."  God is so gracious to give us His Word that we might experience corrective words and to discern good and evil.  He has also given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to choose obedience.  If  we choose NOT to respond, God moves to corrective actions to press us and we will either run to HIM or we will hunker down and spiral downward more deeply into sin.  Most of us, as parents, have used both strategies in dealing with our children.  First we have spoken to warn them, or rebuke them, and then secondly, if the words are not heeded, then we move to action to correct.  How our discipline must be bathed in prayer and not dunked in our anger and frustration to be meted out.  "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son." Hebrews 12:5-6.  Forever learning.  In process, still.  #IHAVETHREESONS