Discipline

Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD, the one you teach from your law.

-Psalm 94:12

I loved Betsy’s post about being refined yesterday. I know that we can all relate to going through seasons of adversity where our only glimmer of hope is that the Lord is still there somewhere and He will somehow, some way, make something in us better. Without that hope, our pain, sadness, broken-heartedness, and struggles can seem altogether unbearable.

This morning I was greeted with today's daily Bible verse from Christ Notes, Psalm 94, verse 12 to be exact:

Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD, the one you teach from your law.

Before I could even reflect on these words, the smart-aleck Farrell deep inside spoke up. “How is it that I’m blessed when You discipline and rebuke me, Lord? I don’t like being chastised, I don’t like being told ‘No,’ I don’t like doing things wrong and then getting into trouble for them or being hurt by them.” Nope, when my dreams are withheld from me, when I go through tough times, or when I’m faced with heartbreak, I certainly don’t immediately think, “Wow, thanks Father--- how blessed am I!”

The big question I have is simple: WHY? Why does the psalmist say that we’re blessed when the Lord disciplines us? I headed to Psalm 94 with a vengeance, determined to figure this out or prove God wrong and what I found stopped me in my tracks. As it turns out, the “Verse of the Day” was only the beginning of God's truth…and the psalmist's reasoning immediately follows in the next two verses:

You grant them relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

-Psalm 94: 13-14

We are blessed when He disciplines us because we are His people. He teaches us His laws because we are His. He will never leave us nor forsake us. In hardships, He grants us relief...hope...love...patience. We wait upon Him…we rest in Him…we trust in Him…we are disciplined by Him…we are His. Though His pruning can seem harsh at times, and though we may not want to be molded and refined into the image of His son Jesus Christ, let us live as we are told in Romans 12:12, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

And let us never forget that the Lord our God is always with us.