After the Discipline

Just a little trivia if you've read this blog before - this is my 301st post - and boy are my fingers tired!

For today we are back in Isaiah - chapter 49 this time.

13 "Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted."

Sounds really cool, huh? But read the next verse:

14 "But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."

This section of Isaiah is about the restoration of Israel. The nation had blown it and God disciplined them. 48 10 "I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake I do it."

Does it ever happen to you that when you blow it and you know God is not pleased and disciplines you - that even when He declares forgiveness you can't accept it?

Like a little child who disobeys, after they receive the discipline the best thing to do is get a great big hug from mom or dad. Running away does not bring about the final important step of the discipline - the restoration of relationship.

We fall into this state of mind where because we have erred and gotten caught that God cannot love us and proves it by his discipline. In fact, we should rejoice over the discipline because God is refining us to become more like Him.

So next time you receive the discipline of the Lord, come out the other end and run into your Father's arms. Here's how he feels about you:

49: 15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will never forget you. Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hands."

Think about that engraving today - who has it and where did He get it?

Pastor Tom