Submission to Our Father's Discipline

Today's Scripture: James 4:7
"Submit yourselves therefore to God."
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To gain the most profit from the discipline of hardship, we need to submit to it. The author of Hebrews said that if we respected our fathers' discipline, how much more should we submit to God's discipline: "We have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?" (12:9). Our fathers' discipline was at best imperfect, both in motive and in application. But God's discipline is perfect, exactly suited to our needs.

How do we submit to God's discipline? Negatively, it means that we don't become angry at God, or charge him with injustice, when difficult circumstances come into our lives. I believe even short-term anger toward God is sin, for which we need to repent. Though the anger may be an emotional response, it's still a charge of injustice against God. Surely that is sin. It's even more serious when someone allows anger toward God to continue over months or even years. Such an attitude amounts to a grudge against God and is actually rebellion. It is certainly not submitting to our heavenly Father.

Positively, we submit to God's discipline when we accept all hardship as coming from his loving hand for our good. This means that our primary response would be one of humble submission and trust. As Peter wrote, "humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6). We should submit to God's providential dealings with us, knowing there's still much in our characters that needs improving. We should trust him, believing that he's infinite in his wisdom and knows exactly the kind and extent of adversity we need to accomplish his purpose.