Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves. Therefore, despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up. He shatters, but his hands heal.
-Job 5:17–18
Oh, what a beautiful picture. So, let’s, let’s keep in mind, just because Eliphaz and some of these others give unhelpful counsel at times doesn’t mean everything they say is unhelpful or untrue. Even sometimes, their unhelpful counsel is actually true. It’s just not the right time, or not said in the right way, or not applied in the correct way.
Job 5:17–18 Reminds Us that Discipline is a Blessing
Anyway, we’ll get to that as we get to different verses, but here, in Job 5, Eliphaz says, “Blessed is the one whom God reproves. Therefore, don’t despise the discipline of the Almighty.” This is Hebrew 12. God loves those whom he disciplines. We know this. Anyone who’s a parent, or a child, assuming there is loving disciplining happening in that relationship, that’s a good thing.
It’s good for my kids to be disciplined if they run out in the road and a car is coming. They need to learn that’s not good for you. It’s a blessing to receive discipline in that way. That’s the whole picture here in Job 5:17, “Despise not the discipline of the Almighty. He disciplines those whom he loves.” That’s why it’s a blessing to be disciplined by God.
God is in Control of Our Lives
And then, Job 5:18, isn’t this beautiful. It says, “He wounds, but he binds up. He shatters, but his hands heal.” The end of God’s discipline, it’s not our wounding or our shattering. The end of God’s discipline, his good loving discipline in our lives, is his binding us up, and his healing in our hearts that we need, that we can only experience through his loving discipline.
So, we pray, God to help us to receive your discipline in our lives. Lord, do whatever you desire to do in our lives to draw us closer to yourself, to make us look more like Jesus, to enable us to experience life according to your good design for us.
Job 5:17–18 Leads Us to Ask God to Discipline Us
Lord God, even as I pray that, I realize I don’t know the ramifications when I’m praying for my own life, much less for all the people who are listening to this. None of us know what could happen if we say, “God, we’ll take whatever discipline you want in our lives to make us holy and accomplish your purposes in the world.”
But we say that. God, we say that to you, knowing you’re our loving Father who will always do what is good for those who love him. “He will work all things together for the good of those who love him,” who are called according to your purpose, because we know that you are the loving Father who is good and will always work everything for good, for those who love you, and are called according to your purpose.
Praying for God’s Purpose to be Accomplished
We want your purposes to be accomplished in our lives. We want your purposes to be accomplished in the world. So, we say, yes, to your discipline. Help us to humble ourselves under it, whatever that may mean in each of our lives, and to trust that, when we are wounded, you will bind us up with your own hands, that when we are shattered, your hands will heal us.
Oh God, we praise you. Thank you for your discipline in our lives. We pray it would have its full effect, that you might accomplish all the purposes you desire for us, in it. In Jesus’ name, we pray, based on Job 5:17–18. Amen.
View the 2022 McLean Bible Church Reading Plan.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
