Feb 10 2019 Hebrews 12:1-6

My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.

Wow.. Just wow. I’m really not sure what to do with this section. Discipline of the Lord? Punished by him? I have never felt that God punishes us humans when we’re on this earth, or actively disciplines us.

But that’s what it says, so that’s what I’m writing about this morning. Ugh. One of the joys of following a set of prescribed readings, whether it’s for Sunday morning or daily prayer, is that I don’t get to skip over the parts I don’t like and head right to the sections that support what I already believe. Of course that would be so much easier. But if God supported everything I already believe, I’m not sure I’d need God; I’d have the truth already.

Here’s what I make of this. First, I have friends who don’t believe in God. They would never see bad things happening as a function of God because there is no God. So this section isn’t talking about them. But for everyone else, God is a loving God. So if you believe in God, then it stands to reason that if bad things happen, things that seem like discipline or punishment, and if we want to ascribe that to God, it’s a God that loves, because that’s the only way God is.

I guess my other thought about this is that God doesn’t actively punish us, rather God sometimes doesn’t jump in and pull us out of the mire. That can feel like punishment, but I don’t think God fiendishly intentionally punishes us. There’s an analogy from the book, A Prayer for Owen Meany, where God’s “discipline” is likened to a mother who lets her child try to ride a bike. Sometimes the child falls and gets hurt. And any mother who’s watched their kid get hurt knows it hurts the mother too. But the mother lets the child do that anyway.

I will take from this little section the following: Sometimes my actions, or nature, or illness, or mean people result in me having a bad time. I don’t get to do what I want, or someone I love is hurt, or I am hurt. It stinks, every time. Sometimes it’s because I shouldn’t get my way – I’m wrong. Sometimes it’s because bad things happen. I don’t always get to know why, if I’m at fault, of if no one is at fault. In all cases though, a loving God is there throughout. I am loved throughout. God knows how everything will turn out because God is there, at the end already. I just need ot have the faith to walk through this world knowing that.