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Job 5:17 (NKJV)
“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.“
In Job 5, Job’s friend Eliphaz the Temanite was sharing his thoughts about what Job was experiencing. That is, Job was being corrected by God for his wrongdoing – for his sin – whatever it may be. Interestingly, in verse 17 of Job 5, Eliphaz makes correction out to be something for which Job should be grateful to receive. He makes it clear that God’s discipline is not to be despised.
Reading Job 5:17 made me think about my own thoughts about correction and discipline. From childhood, never once did I think that I was fortunate for being corrected or for being punished. But after I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and I began to grow in my relationship with the Lord, I came to understand more about who God is. I began to see that God was a loving Father. That God truly loved me with a love that is hard for me to even comprehend. From this position, it was easy to accept that God’s correction and discipline was always from a place of love.
Love must be at the center of any perspective believers have about God and His correction or about God and His discipline. Proverbs 3:11-12 (NKJV) tells us: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
While our ambition should be to pursue lives that please the Lord, when we fall short, we should remember that God loves us and always wants the best for us. God wants the best for us, even if the best for us is to discipline us so that we adjust our ways back in alignment with God.
Consider the following:
John 3:16 (NKJV) states: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Ephesians 2:4-5 (NKJV) states: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), …”
From John 3:16 (NKJV) we see that, out of God’s love, He gave His only begotten Son to rescue us and give us life eternal. And from Ephesians 2:4-5 (NKJV) we see that because of God’s great love for us, Jesus’ sacrifice took us from a place of death in sin to a new life in Christ Jesus. That is love!
None of what I have said above should be taken to mean that, because God loves us, it is okay to live lives not being concerned about whether our actions please the Lord or are in alignment with God’s Word. Far from it!
Because God loves us so much, we should want to live lives where our thoughts, words, and actions align with God’s Word. And because God loves us so much, any correction or discipline from God is intended to train and restore us so that everything about us is aligned with God’s character.
Psalm 86:11 (NKJV) states: Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
Except where indicated, scripture references are from the American Standard Version (ASV), Darby Translation (DARBY), or King James Version (KJV) – all public domains.
