“Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,” declares the Lord, “For I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
-Jeremiah 46:28
Jeremiah 46:28 is a promise to God’s people in the middle of their suffering for sin that He will restore them, that He is with them, and He will bring them back to Himself. And the picture here, God says, “I will discipline you in just measure.”
May we receive God’s discipline and respond to it in a way that glorifies Him, knowing that it is ultimately good for us.
So I think about my life as a dad with four children whom I discipline. And that’s a good thing, that I instruct them in ways that are good, and that when they don’t follow those ways, that there are consequences for those things that teach them that way is not good. There’s a better way.
And it’s good all throughout scripture. We’re exhorted as parents to discipline children, not in a way that exasperates them, but in a way that shows love for them, care for them. And the Bible tells us that God is a Father to us that disciplines us for our good. He shows us that sin is bad, that it’s affects are harmful so that we would turn from sin, so we would trust Him more.
So this is where we need to thank God for His discipline. If we’re not careful, when we sin and we experience the consequences of sin, that can actually make us mad at God. We could start to point the finger at God at all the ways He’s not good. It’s kinda like when one of my children disobeys me, they experience the consequences, they’re mad at me and they’re saying horrible things about me, and in the process, missing the point. Like, I love them. I’m caring for them. I’m looking out for their good.
Now, I’m an imperfect dad. I’ll be the first to admit that. And so, I don’t discipline my children perfectly, I don’t always know exactly what is best for them, but here’s the beauty, God is a perfect Father who always knows what is best for us and always disciples us perfectly accordingly, out of love and care and compassion.
Prayer Over God’s Discipline
So we pray, God help us to receive your discipline, or to help us to thank you for it. God, thank you, thank you, thank you, that when we go in directions that lead to destruction, you discipline us. That you keep us from going farther than we would go if we were not disciplined by you, experiencing even more the affects and consequences of sin that you protect us from.
God, thank you, thank you, thank you, for your loving discipline in our lives. Help us to see it as such, to receive it as such, and by your discipline, help us to turn from sin and trust in your more, to obey you as our Father more and more and more and more as you discipline us as your children. We praise you for your love for us, for you compassion, your care for us, for your presence with us.
Just as you promised here in Jeremiah 46:28, out of love for your people then, out of love for us right now, we pray that you would help us to receive your discipline and respond to it in a way that glorifies you. And we know, we know according to your Word, will be good for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
