SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2015
8:19 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Need for Discipline
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Hosea 12:1
Message of the
verses: “1 Ephraim feeds on wind,
And pursues the east wind continually; He multiplies lies and violence.
Moreover, he makes a covenant with Assyria, And oil is carried to Egypt.” 1 Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the
east wind. He continually multiplies lies and violence. He makes a covenant
with Assyria, and olive oil is carried to Egypt.” (HCSB)
At the end of our last SD from the book of Hosea I
discussed the necessity of discipline as far as the Lord is concerned. We touched on both Hebrews 12:6 which is a
quote from Proverbs 3:11-12 which says “11
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof,
12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in
whom he delights.” Dr. Wiersbe writes “Chastening
isn’t a judge inflicting punishment on a criminal in order to uphold the
law. Rather, chastening is a loving
parent disciplining his or her child in order to perfect his character and
build his endurance. Punishment has to
do with law, which is important, but chastening has to do with love, which is
also important.” Dr. Wiersbe writes an
endnote on what we read from Hebrews 12:11-17 which says “Hebrews 12:11-17 is
the classic passage in Scripture on chastening.
The Greek word paideia means ‘the rearing of a child,’ because the
purpose of discipline is maturity.
Sometimes God disciplines us to correct our disobedience, but He may
also discipline us when we’re obedient in order to equip us to serve Him
better. David is an example of
correcting discipline (2 Sam. 12; Pss. 32:51), while Joseph is an example of
perfecting discipline (Gen. 39-42; Ps. 105:16-22). Note that the context of Hebrews 12 is that
of athletics, running the race (12:1-3).
Athletes must experience the pain of discipline (dieting, exercising,
competing) if they ever hope to excel.
Nobody ever mastered a sport simply by listening to a lecture or
watching a video, as helpful as those encounters may be. At some point, the swimmer must dive into the
water, the wrestler must hit the mat, and the runner must take his or her place
on the track. Likewise, the children of
God must experience the pain of discipline—correcting and perfecting—if they
are to mature and become like Jesus Christ.”
The first verse from Hosea chapter 12 reminds me of looking
at the book of Ecclesiastes where we see the word vanity many times and also
chastening after the wind. One cannot
get any nourishment from chewing the wind as this very idea is ridiculous,
however that is the way that God’s people were living.
We have discussed the two sins that Israel was committing
when we looked at other prophets that we have already studied. The first sin was the worshiping of Idols,
which actually came very early in their history. They replaced their worship of God with the
worship of worthless idols which breaks the first commandment. Remember God is a jealous God. Next they were trusting the nations around
them to protect them from their enemies, the trouble is that the nations they
were putting their trust in were the ones who would eventually attack them or
in the case of Egypt have already given them trouble.
God would discipline Israel in order to bring them back
to Him. 7/16/2015 8:44 PM
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