The Discipline of God's Love

   
 "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined---and everyone undergoes discipline---then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.....God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness." Hebrews 12:7-8,10

  In my very first post on this blog I talked about the joys of knowing God as a Father. Experiencing his paternal love has been an important aspect of my life. Before becoming a Christian, I saw God as this distant and cold being but when I got saved,  I discovered his personal and fatherly nature.  Many do not know just how fatherly he is. His nature truly is to be "fatherly" and that's why he's calls himself "the Father". Because I 'd always seen him as impersonal, its was SUCH a stark contrast to know him as my Father. In my early days as a Christian, he  showered me with so much affection I was amazed I could know him and that it could feel so wonderful to be his. All my life, I'd felt insecure and ugly, but God went out of his way to call me beautiful, his daughter and his princess, directly and through other Christians. He gave me a new song and a new dance. Christians I didn't know told me I was beautiful just because God had led them to. I would dance as led by the Holy Spirit, and "coincidentally" some would exclaim how I was God's daughter and he my Father--such a good reinforcement for me.  God gave me that season to build trust and confidence in me for when the tests would come. And they did. As I go through various trials , I often struggle to reconcile God's deep, fatherly love for me with his allowing me to suffer. Spiritually I know the answer--its to conform me to Christ--, but practically, in the moment, its hard to feel loved when you are hurting and you know that God could choose to end the hurting. Truly, I don't believe its God's "perfect will" for us to suffer but we brought suffering into the world through our sin and suffering comes through the schemes of the devil. Trials will happen whether we like it or not. Sometimes God allow us to go through these trials and at other times he chooses to shield us from them. 

So, here are a few ways God has helped me reconcile his loving, Fatherly heart with the reality of suffering.

First, according to Romans 8:28  he works all things out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Believing in God's goodness and love even when we don't feel it, is really what faith is all about. It may seem crazy for God to choose to work through suffering but he tells us in Isaiah 55:9  that his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Even in the pain, we must trust that he knows better than we do and that this way of suffering is the best of all. If the Scriptures say God is good, we must choose in faith to accept this, no matter the depth of our pain.

  Secondly, God didn't spare himself from suffering.  He sent his own beloved son to the cross. I'm not better than Jesus and I know how much the Father loves the Son (Matthew 3:17). If the Father allowed his perfect son to suffer, why should I expect to be treated differently? 

   Lastly, God has been explaining to me the connection between "discipline" and his fatherly heart. 
"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children......God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness." ( Hebrews 12:7). Even though I'd been aware of this verse for some time, I still struggled to grasp how God could love me, while allowing me to go through a wilderness, while seemingly hiding his presence from me. However , recently God drew my attention to the part "he disciplines us so that we may share in his holiness". I realize this is one of the most loving things God can do for us. He loves us so much that he wants us to be like him. He loves us so much that he does not want to leave us bound in our sin. He loves us so much that he want us to share in the joy, and the life and the divine pleasure of being God---and he will stop at nothing to make that happen, even if that means we must hurt for a little while. He can see the final reward and its worth it to him. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."  ( 2 Corinthians 4;17) While its still difficult to go through  trials , I'm comforted by and try to remind myself that God loves me so much, he wants me to be like him, the most wonderful, the most amazing, the most glorious , the most holy being in the world. He's not punishing me but showing his love for me by giving me the greatest gift of all----his own image, his glory. "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." 

 To Father God, the end goal is worth shedding tears for and I pray I may count the pain worth it as well. May this also be your prayer.