“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal
us. He has injured us; now he will
bandage our wounds. In just a
short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the
arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” “O Israel and Judah, what should I
do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist
and disappears like dew in the sunlight. I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—to
slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light. I want you to show love, not offer
sacrifices. I want you to know me more
than I want burnt offerings. Hosea 6:1-6
Israel and Judah, God’s petulant, unruly children had enough “spankings”
to remind them of what is right, and what is wrong. They learned the hard way, that there is a
vast gulf between saying you will behave and living
what you have said. Through the prophet
God reminds them of their promises vanishing like morning dew.
What is often missed by those who see God as either a fairy tale or, if real,
just too rigidly unfair and mean, is the motive of God’s judgments. That motive is always loving, designed to
bring the child back into the fold, not just dole-out bruises. There is a reason we are taught to address
God as Father; it is the image of one who created us in
His own image, and stays involved with us to see us through the dangerous reality
of growing up in a world that can be
harsh and unfriendly.
On the other side of discipline is memory.
Children remember the discipline they receive. While there are many moving parts to
discipline, the concept of correcting a child is so vital to parenting it
cannot be ignored. Any child who lives
without parental discipline is left to the mercy of chance and this world’s unpredictability. In short, left without the safety boundaries which
discipline provides is to be left without love.
And an unloved child grows into an unloving adult, often obnoxious and
angry.
For a parent, the tricky part of
discipline is learning to act in love, not anger. Children can be frustrating, and there aren’t
many parents who haven’t lost it over their kid’s
behavior. Controlling one’s own spirit
and actions is foremost in teaching a child to master his or her own demons.
The whole point of discipline is to help a child see a better way. If a child has made an error in behavior, the
parent’s job is to show their child that better way. Spanking, or corporal punishment, a practice
used throughout most of recorded history, was a means of getting enough of the
child’s attention to focus on the fact she or he had acted inappropriately. The problem with that form of discipline is that
it’s too easy for a frustrated parent to default to working-out the parent’s
anger than taking the time to teach. Rule number 1 is always: Settle your own anger before disciplining
your child! If you don’t, the
only thing you’ll help them see is the opposite of loving discipline; you’ll
teach them how to be a bully.
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
Title image, Pixabay.com and W Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Hosea 6 see: Latte Salute; Scottie Salute; Sermon Salute and
Broken Covenant
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