CORRECT
“O Lord, correct me, but with
judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.” Jeremiah 10:24
Hebrews
12 is the place to go to read about the purpose and outcome of the Lord’s correction. We are instructed to understand that as children
of the King we should expect that our good Father would deal with us in correction. It is a sign that we are His and it is for
our profit. His goal is to bring peace
and uprightness to our lives.
Jeremiah
is opening his heart and life for the Lord’s examination, asking to be
corrected. David did similarly in Psalm
139:23, 24, “Search me, O God, and know
my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there by any wicked way in
me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
He
adds a qualifier – with judgment and not anger. Again, he reflects the heart of
David as in Psalm 6:1, “O Lord, rebuke me
not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.” David and
Jeremiah do not want to be in the hands of an angry God. Their desire is for
loving and honest correction, to be judged and instructed.
The
phrase, lest thou bring me to nothing, shows
the natural result of punishment done in anger. It diminishes the spirit. Jeremiah’s prayer is that good will come from
the correction, that it will yield good fruit.
God will surely answer this brave prayer.
When
we come to God with this type of prayer, we, too, can expect that he will
answer. The key is being willing to give
reverence to the instruction and to make the necessary changes.
Can
you pray this prayer? Are you willing
and ready to hear from your loving, heavenly Father about the things you need
to have corrected in your life? Are you
willing to make the changes necessary? Do you believe that his correction will
be for your benefit?
CORRECT
“O Lord, are not thine eyes upon
the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but
they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to
receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have
refused to return.” Jeremiah 5:3
Refusing
to receive correction. What a sad state
of affairs. Can you see the description
of Israel in this verse? They have been
under the corrective hand of God, but refused to yield. They have become harder and harder as they
stubbornly hold onto their rebellion.
There is no repentance, no grieving for sin.
Sadly,
this example is played out in the lives of so many even today. Stubbornness and rebellion become a way of
life and no matter how ugly life gets they refuse to change their ways. Proverbs 13:15 says, “…the way of the trangressors is hard.” Truly, a life bound in rebellion brings with
it much heartache.
Proverbs
22:15 tells us that “Foolishness is bound
in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from
him.” That tells me that refusal to
receive correction is foolish. It is not
wise and not the best path to choose. To
be in a place where the hand of God is upon you in correction because of your
rebellion is not a happy place. It is
also not a place God wants you to remain.
My
heart goes out to those whose children have taken this path. My heart also is broken for those who are on
this path. As I hear of their hurts and
disappointments I can only watch as they refuse to hear truth and as they
continue over and over to make poor choices.
All the time they are blaming someone else. They can even say all the right words, but
their hearts are far from the truth and their bent is toward stubbornly trying
to make their sinful lifestyle work. It
results in a hard heart and a seared conscience. Refusing to receive correction. What a sad state of affairs.
CORRECT
“Thine own wickedness shall correct
thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee:
know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou
hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord
God of hosts.” Jeremiah 2:19
It
is a distasteful punishment when we realize that we are reaping what we have
sown. There is no one else to blame and
we have to admit that our own doings and rebellion have brought about the
hardships we are facing.
Like
teenagers, we insist on our own way without taking into account what will be
the outcome. Sometimes we are in open
rebellion, and sometimes we are just simply ignorant. I have been both! Open rebellion brought me several lessons in
my teen years, but ignorance brought it’s own lesson as well.
I
always had the potential to be a good student.
My parents insisted on good grades.
So, I did just enough to keep them happy and to keep control of the
educational pressure on myself. I was in
the top ten percent of my graduating class and that satisfied me until I
realized that my laziness meant I was being overlooked for opportunities I
would have enjoyed. I watched as others,
whom I considered beneath me, were elevated to places of reward I knew could
have been mine.
All
of us have lessons like this from our teens, no doubt. But sadly, we also have experienced similar
lessons from our adulthood as we have faced learning about finances, cars,
relationships and jobs.
But
saddest of all is the Christian who rebels against His Lord. Who, by unscriptural choices and open
rebellion goes out to have his own way forsaking God’s love and directives and
not afraid of the consequences, nor respectful of His authority.
The
law of sowing and reaping remains consistent.
We will all give account of ourselves to the Lord. It is an evil and bitter pill to swallow when
we see that our own sin is being used to correct us.
Have
you tasted that pill? Are you in open
rebellion against the Lord? Are you
doing just enough to get by and keep your head down when you know the Lord
wants more from you? Can you see the
folly of forsaking the Lord, and, the danger of failing to fearfully respect Him?
CORRECT
“He that chastiseth the heathen,
shall not he correct? He that teacheth
man knowledge, shall not he know?” Psalm
94:10
Chastisement
and correction go together. In Jeremiah
10:24 we learned that the prophet requested the Lord do so with judgment and
not in anger. That was because he knew
it came as a package. If you think about
it, most everything we learn, we learn by effort. Learning to walk means we will fall. Learning to obey our parents comes with stern
warnings and maybe even a few whacks! Learning to play an instrument means
practice and loads of wrong notes. It is
no wonder then, that getting something correct means loads of rebukes in the
process.
This
verse, though, is speaking about more than just learning to do something
new. It is talking about the right of
the Lord to teach us how to follow Him.
Matthew Henry explains, “He chastises the heathen for their polytheism
and idolatry, shall not he much more correct his own people for their atheism
and profaneness?”
Hebrews
12 teaches that correction from the Lord, and, yes, even chastisement, is a
sign that we are His children. God will
correct his children. And, even as he
chastises the heathen, he will chastise those of his children who do not yield.
Israel
was a rebellious daughter. She was
prideful and haughty. She was very
willing to condemn the heathen around her, but thoughtless about her own
failings before her Lord. She ignored
the prophets and even decided to not give heed to their words of warning. (Jeremiah 18:18) She was bound up in her own
way so God had to use strong punishments to get her attention.
It
makes for a real attention-getter for us as well. We can get self-righteous, judgmental and
comfortable in our own way. We can think ourselves “above the law”. And, we can simply go through the motions of
Christianity ignoring the Word of God in our self-conceit. But we need to take note. God, who punishes the heathen, who we
condemn, also holds his children to account.
We, who have the truth, are even more responsible to live in that
truth. God knows our heart. He knows our true motivations. We are not guiltless. He will correct us.
CORRECT
“Correct thy son, and he shall give
the rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.” Proverbs 29:17
Correction
can be a lovely thing. Taking time to
instruct your children pays benefits.
Getting them under control at a young age will give you years of peace
in the future.
Having
raised five children of my own, I can attest to the demands that wise correction
makes on the parent. To see the real
benefits of correction there must be defined boundaries, understood outcomes,
and consistency. Those do not take away
from the elements of grace and mercy, but rather, they give a foundation to
correction that creates understanding between the parent and the child that
will last a lifetime.
God
does the same with us. He has defined
boundaries – the “shoulds and should not’s” of God’s Word. He explains the outcomes of crossing the line
– broken fellowship, chastisement, etc.
And, God is consistent. He does
not change. He is always there with
grace and mercy, but his foundations remain consistent.
God
gives us correction throughout His Word.
Actually, II Timothy 3:16 even tells us that the Word of God is there
for the use of correction. We can go to
God’s Word to find out where we are going wrong, and then use God’s Word to
make the necessary changes. His Word is
there for our benefit and for our protection. Correction need not always be
considered negative.
I
always found it such a delight when my children obeyed and especially when they
obeyed because they had understood my words and made choices to stay inline
with our family guidelines. They benefited as well. Not only because they knew they had done right,
but by following good guidelines, they stayed safe.
Now
that they are all grown, they have each come back to thank their parents for
good discipline and teaching – and yes – even for correction. I can enjoy them now as adults.
Are
you a consistent parent when it comes to discipline? Or, do you fly off the handle disciplining in
raw emotion? Do you have defined
boundaries and expectations, or do your children always wonder about what is
right and wrong? Do you use discipline
to “beat your child down”? As a child of God, are you obedient? Do you know His boundaries and
expectations? Are you living up to them
in love?
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