The Lord Reproves Him Whom He Loves

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship.

Confession of Sin

Acknowledging our guilt; resting in His grace.

11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,

as a father the son in whom he delights.
(Proverbs 3:11-12)

We live in a day and age in which the fundamental principles of these verses are doubted and scrutinized.

The world emphatically believes that Christian discipline, rooted in the holiness of God’s commands, is restrictive and stifling.

Of course, those who believe this are seriously mistaken. However, in a rather peculiar way, they are also quite right.

God is a loving Father to his children.

He does not allow his children to make the playbook; he does not let them set the tone; he does not acquiesce to their fickle and fluctuating feelings as the rudder of their lives.

Instead of passively letting their sinful desires lead them to disrepair, he actively, personally, intimately, and unapologetically restricts them; he holds them back from the perilous cliff-edge of their own unholy inclinations.

Instead of allowing them to charge ahead toward devastation, he stifles their stride; he intentionally sprains the ankle of their rebellion; he injures the hamstring of their obstinance, and he deliberately stands in the way of the full expression of their sinful desires.

So it is true that Christian discipline, rooted in the holiness of God’s commands, is restrictive and stifling.

In love, God restricts us from ruining ourselves in sin and misery. Because of his mercy, he stifles us from straying from the path that leads to life.

God disciplines those whom he loves. God stands in the way of your sin in order to draw you back to him in righteousness.

“Do not despise” such discipline when your Father brings it into your life, beloved.

Do not be angry with God when he takes something away from you that was in the way of your relationship with him.

Do not be angry with God when he makes your way hard because he knows that you are walking in the way of rebellion.

Do not be angry with God when he removes your peace and security in order to show you that you are building your house on the shifting sand and not the solid rock.

Do not be angry with God when he troubles you with various trials because he knows that you have placed your trust in a false treasure.

Do not be angry with God when he loves you enough to keep you from getting the things that he knows will only bring you harm.

For all these things come by the hand of a Father who “loves”; they come from the heart of a Father who disciplines us because he “delights” in us. They come from a Savior who bears patiently because he has looked upon us with pity rather than punishment.

God’s designs are intended to rescue us from our rebellion, to work repentance and renewal in our hearts, and to bring us home rejoicing that we have been loved so dearly by the One who we have scorned.

By that same faithful and unrelenting love, we have been spared from sorrow upon sorrow though we willfully pursued it to our own harm.

We invite you to privately confess your sins before the Lord now. — (A TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION)

Assurance of God’s Forgiveness

(These are our congregation’s memory verses for the month of March, 2021)

1 Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, (Isaiah 43:1-3a).