A study of the book of Proverbs chapter three verses eleven and twelve.
My child, don’t turn away or become bitter when the LORD corrects you. The LORD corrects everyone he loves, just as parents correct their favorite child (vs 11-12 CEV).
There are three things I grasp from this:
1. We serve a God who’s a disciplinary father. Every time God would smack Israel’s butt, it was because he was their father, and the same applies to us. Perhaps you are receiving a spanking from your heavenly father.
2. Don’t be bitter. Correction comes to people that God loves. It’s no wonder why some people go unpunished or uncorrected. It’s because they aren’t God’s children and he doesn’t love them. While judgment comes to all at the end, his children are the ones who get the spanking first. This correction keeps us from the final punishment that has no return. We must thank God for his whoopings, even though that sounds crazy.
3. How do we know when the Lord is correcting us? I believe it’s just as a parent does. If we have done something we know we weren’t supposed to do and now we seem to be stuck in an area of our lives and can’t move forward, maybe it’s because we’re “on punishment” and can’t leave our rooms until we acknowledge the sin and repent.
If we are experiencing some spiritual pain (and you know where this one is going), and we have no rest, and we can’t seem to sit down, this is because a spiritual paddle has been placed, multiple times, to our rear ends. I know for me, the Lord has allowed the results of sin to whoop my butt.
Sometimes you may hear a word from a preacher, a blog or wherever, and it’s our Father giving us a warning about the consequences of our sin, if we continue in it. This is our dad having a sit-down talk on our beds about our behavior.
Remember, correction stops us from going down the road that leads to destruction. Sometimes the Lord will let us experience a tiny percentage of the lake of fire. Just a taste of that and it changes our entire course of life for the better. He may allow the consequences of sin to hurt us, but in his grace and mercy, greatly reduce what could have been much worse. This is God’s way of getting us back on track.
Unfortunately, others never get a spanking because they never were born again, children of God, and eventually end up in the lake of fire for all eternity – but thank God for his correction now.
This ministry is no longer in service. I left the Christian faith and no longer agree with some of the content posted here. However, this website will remain available for archive purposes. Read the details in my last post.