Love Disciplines

Lamentations 3:31 — For the Lord will not cast off forever.

Jeremiah saw Jerusalem and the nation of Judah in ruins. He knew this was the result of the nation’s terrible sins and refusal to repent. He knew that God had allowed Babylon to invade, destroy, and take people into captivity. Jeremiah wept for these losses and felt that the Lord had cast off His people.

But Jeremiah knew the heart of God and the promises God had made. Jeremiah remembered the predictions the Holy Spirit had given to him to prophesy about a bright future for God’s people. This is why Jeremiah said that the Lord would not cast off forever.

God is a Father to His children. Jesus often spoke of God the Father and His relationship with the One Jesus called “My Father.” A father loves his wife and children. That is part of His God-given responsibility as a man who is a husband and a father. Part of being a loving father is disciplining any children he has so that they grow up to be honorable, moral, respectful, and (we hope and pray) God-fearing men and women. A man who loves God prays that his children will be inspired by his life to love God themselves.

Part of loving parenting is discipline, and God will discipline His children when they disobey Him. Discipline begins with instruction, warnings, and rebuke; but if these are not heeded, then more severe discipline comes. Spanking and scourging hurt, but they can bring correction to many hearts. This treatment is necessary, but it may seem to the one being disciplined that he or she has been cast off by the Lord. That is not so.

Lamentations 3:32 says, “though He [God] cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love.” “The Lord disciplines the one He loves” (Hebrews 12:6). God really loves us.

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