Parental Discipline
I left to run an errand this morning. I heard a reference to Deuteronomy and the radio jockey, I believe her name is Olivia, started reading this passage on air:
“Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.” - Deuteronomy 8:5-6 ESV
I started thinking about our son and his growing up. I have always believed, as a parent, that interactions with your child is a vague copy of how God must be with his creation (us).
I remember when my son got his driver’s license. Before he started going out on his own, we had established rules such as curfew, not doing this or that, etc. One of the first few times he went out for socializing on his own, I decided to be awake and sitting in our living room when he got home. My thinking was if he made it home before his curfew, I could praise him. If he didn’t, it was my opportunity to let him know that we set the rules and there would be consequences for breaking them. My theory was that if I expended the effort up front, I may not have to be as diligent checking afterwards.
Sure enough, he got home about 15 minutes late and saw me sitting in the chair in front of the door. I could tell from the look on his face that he knew he messed up. That was the best outcome I could think of - he knew he was wrong and that he was being held accountable. We discussed the importance of being home before the curfew or letting us know if some problem had arisen. After that, I never worried (much) about whether he got home by his curfew.
A different kind of situation happened a few years before this. We were away from home on the eve of a Holliday and stopped for dinner on our way home. I don’t remember what the conversation was or how we got to this point, but our son - looking me straight in the eyes - asked me if I was “ignorant” in a non-joking manner. I’m sure my blood pressure started to rise. My wife, seeing the look on my face, said “please, don’t kill my son.” She says she was trying to defuse the situation but whatever look I had on my face urged her to action. In both of these examples, a parent was trying to do their best to lovingly raise their child, sometimes holding back their own anger, sometimes letting bad behavior in their child happen to teach them a lesson and prevent a potentially worse outcome. I believe God does that with us.
“This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction.” - Jeremiah 32:31-33 ESV
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
“For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” - Romans 10:3-4 ESV
