Making Light of God's Discipline

Today's Scripture: Hebrews 12:5
"Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord."
Read it online at the Bible Gateway: (NIV) (NASB) (KJV) (The Message)

We're warned in Hebrews 12:5 not to regard lightly the Lord's discipline. It may be difficult for us to conceive of doing this, but one way is when we count his discipline of little value—as something only to be endured rather than as something for our profit.

We also despise God's discipline of adversity when we fail to see God's hand in the hardships we encounter. Instead of acknowledging them as from God, we tend to view adversities as chance occurrences; we don't seek God's purpose in the discipline, but instead focus entirely on finding relief.

The Scriptures tell us, however, that adversities are not chance occurrences; like our so-called blessings, they all come from the hand of God. This truth is scattered throughout the Bible. "In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other" (Ecclesiastes 7:14). "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things" (Isaiah 45:7). "Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?" (Lamentations 3:38). "Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?" (Amos 3:6).

Some Christians have difficulty with this truth and even deny it, because they cannot believe that a "God of love" is responsible for either the individual or public disasters that come to us. But the clear testimony of Scripture stands against all our protestations. So we need to recognize the hand of God in all the adversities we encounter and not make light of his discipline.