Introduction

Job 5:17 says “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.” Learning to receive the Lord’s discipline (Heb. 12:3-11) as a blessing is one of the keys to persevering faith and growing in fruitfulness.

How do God’s people receive the Lord’s discipline as a blessing?

First, don’t be surprised at the Lord’s discipline.

2 Sam. 7:14-15, “I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him.”

The Davidic Covenant promises that the rod and the stripes will fall upon the sons of men. “When he commits iniquity.” Not if, but when. In other words, there is going to come a time when God’s covenant people, whom he loves, fall into sin and need correction. Sometimes Christians are surprised when the Lord’s discipline comes. But this shouldn’t surprise you. Just as a good earthly Father won’t let his children slide into sinful behaviors, but will discipline them to teach them the good path, so too will the Heavenly Father.

Second, remember that when discipline comes, God’s love has not departed.

2 Sam. 7:14-15, “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him.”

Discipline is when the Lord delivers some pain or discomfort to awaken you to your sin. When you are receiving the Lord’s discipline, it’s easy to forget that this is loving. It doesn’t feel loving. When you are in the middle of that pain or discomfort, it is easy to think this is the departure of God’s love. In truth, this is the exercise of God’s love and it is for your good.

Third, remember the Lord disciplines his servants but does not give them over to death.

Psalm 118:18, “The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.”

When you are receiving the Lord’s discipline, it might feel like you are abandoned. It might feel like a distance between you and the Lord. But the Lord is using discipline to bring you back to him so that you WON’T experience eternal separation. The more grievous and longstanding the sin, the more severe the Lord’s discipline. The severe discipline of the Lord, especially, feels like you are given over to death.

When you are in those moments, remember the Lord is not giving you over to death. He is saving you from death. The Lord does not deal with you as a tyrant tossing sinners to their doom but as a craftsman shaping what is still unformed. He does not hurl you into death; He hews you out of it, like a sculptor chiseling away the rock to reveal the hidden life within. God’s discipline is not destruction, but deliverance—a strange alchemy where pain becomes mercy; where wounds become wisdom. If you feel the blade, it is only because He is cutting the chains that would drag you into the abyss.

Fourth, confess that the Lord’s discipline is for your good and instruction.

Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

The one who is chastised in love confesses that the discipline of the Lord has been good for them and has furthered their instruction. The wicked groan loudly under their scourges because they do not see the good. Rather than repent, they multiply their sin and become hardened. They murmur and kick against God and rant against the just Judge. Why? They fail to see that God is good, even in the discipline. They forget that this difficult time is the careful hand of a Father and the wise counsel of a teacher. They begrudgingly fixate on the discipline but fail to correct their steps.

We have to acknowledge that while it is easy to say that discipline leads to good, it is not easy to live. It is a strange and wondrous thing—that stinging leads to singing when we are confessing that the Lord is good.

Fifth, know that God’s temporary anger toward you results in mercy.

Isaiah 12:1, “For though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.”

Habakkuk 3:2, “In wrath remember mercy.”

When God disciplines his covenant children, justice is not a sword to slay but a light to reveal. It humbles you to see that even His justice is shot through with mercy. In our sin, we are servants, who have failed mightily, approaching a great King. We shouldn’t try to escape discipline but to bow underneath it. In that bowing, you are sanctified, because not only do you find refining justice, but you also find splendid mercy.

Sixth, pray that the Lord acts in justice rather than anger.

Jeremiah 10:24, “Correct me, O Lord, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.”

Psalm 6:1, David says, “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.”

The person who is chastised must pray that the Lord’s discipline is not in anger but in justice.

This reminds us that our sin should bring about God’s anger. We must not be presumptuous with God as if he does wrong when we sin; as if it’s God’s fault that our sin has consequences.

When you go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to deal with you justly rather than angrily, that will also have the effect of humbling you to receive the lessons you need to learn. This is an important part of growing in the Lord’s discipline. When you go to the Lord in prayer, trembling yet trusting, pleading for his justice over his wrath, you will find yourself strangely changed. You are working yourself—praying yourself—into the disposition of humility, which is the very lesson your stubborn heart needs most.

Seventh, remember the one who is justly punished gains nothing by loudly complaining.

Micah 7:9, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him.”

Rather than complaining, you should take responsibility for your sin. Your complaints will come to nothing because your protest is against justice. To rage against what is deserved is to harden your heart against what might be learned. The truly wise soul does not waste breath in complaint but bends low under the rod, discovering that silence before justice is the first step toward wisdom—and that punishment, rightly received, bears the fruit of grace. The faithful who endure God’s scourges, immediately confront their sin, see its deadly effect, take responsibility for it in fear and dread, and flee to God for forgiveness and relief.

Eighth, remember the Lord’s punishment for his people is not as severe as his punishment for the unrepentant.

Isaiah 48:10, “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.”

Why is the punishment for his people gentler than the punishment for the enemy? Because the goal is not to totally consume you.

Ninth, remember God’s covenant faithfulness.

Psalm 89:30-34, “If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant.”

The chastisement of God on his people is a clear testimony of the mercy of God. God punishes his people not because he has forgotten his covenant, but because he has remembered it.

Conclusion

When the Lord’s discipline happens, don’t lose heart. See it as God’s blessing that leads to your improvement, if only you will wait on the Lord (Micah 7:7f) and receive the Lord’s discipline as a blessing.

Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.