A Loving Parent

Monday, May 30, 2011, 7:09 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, “A Sure Foundation,” was playing in my mind. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, to my heart your words that you would want me to hear from you today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” I had read Isaiah 30:1-18 for my quiet time with the Lord yesterday, so I began reading with verse 19 today. Quoting Isaiah 30:8-11, 19-26:

Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!”

…O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

My Understanding: I am a mother of four children, ages 30, 32, 34 & 36, and I am a grandmother of ten, ages 1 month old to 12 years old (5 girls and 5 boys). So, I am well experienced on the subject of being a parent (and grandparent) of small children. God is our Father. He calls us his children – those who are in Christ Jesus through faith in him. In the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God frequently gives us a picture of our relationship with him as that of a parent with children. A loving parent will not only provide for his or her children their basic needs, he or she will play with, nurture, protect, guide, direct, teach, give counsel and correction, and will discipline and punish children, where necessary, in order to help train them to live rightly for their own safety and protection, and for their own peace and security. A loving parent will also give reassurance of love and affection and restoration once the discipline is finished. God is a loving parent.

I Corinthians 11:32 says:

When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Hebrews 12:5-7 says:

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

In Isaiah 30 we have a picture of obstinate, deceitful and rebellious children (spiritual children) who carry out their own plans, that are not God’s plans, and without consulting God. They are unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They don’t want to hear messages about holy living. They want to hear messages that make them feel good about themselves, i.e. that are pleasing to their ears and that appeal to their fleshly appetites; messages that give them a free license to sin and to live however they want, yet promising them hope of heaven. They don’t want to be confronted with the truths of God’s word that teach holy living, repentance and obedience to God’s commands.

These rebellious children form alliances (friendships, business partnerships, and memberships in organizations, etc.) that are not from God and that are, most often, contrary to God’s will and to the teachings of scripture. By doing so, they heap (pile high) sin upon sin. They look to man to give them protection and refuge instead of looking to the Lord, yet man’s help will be to their shame, because man will fail us and man may lead us in the wrong direction. Times haven’t changed too much since then. This could well be a description of today’s church, in general.

God said then, and I believe he is still saying (the New Testament gives witness to this) that because they (the spiritually rebellious) have rejected God’s messages (his word), he will bring judgment (loving parental) discipline upon them. Yet, he is counseling them that they will find his grace and salvation through repentance and through placing their trust in him (not in man) to save them. He longs to be gracious and to show compassion, just like a loving parent. He gets no pleasure out of having to discipline us, yet he will if we continue in stubbornness and rebellion and we refuse to listen to him and to follow his ways and we continue going our own way and doing our own thing, because he is a God of justice. The Lord will do this to purify his bride and to make her holy, made ready for her King and husband.

Yet, when we cry to him for help, he will be gracious and he will answer. Then, our ears will hear his voice giving us instruction, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Sometimes we need our ears and eyes opened. Then, when we have repented, we will discard our idols (whatever takes the place of God in our hearts) and we will throw them away like trash. Then, the Lord will restore us and he will bless us with spiritual blessings. He will bind up the bruises and he will heal the wounds he inflicted upon us, just like a loving parent would give reassurance to his or her children of his or her love following a time of discipline.

God is calling out to us, his church, to listen to his voice, to obey his teachings, to not close our ears or our eyes to the truths of his word, but to walk with him in faith and obedience. If we do not, a time will come when he will discipline us, because he loves us, and because he desires to bring us back into a right relationship with him for our good and for his glory. Yet, whatever discipline he brings upon us, it will be the discipline of a loving parent, and following the time of correction, he will take us in his arms and he will comfort us again with his love, because his motivation is love and his goal in discipline is to make us holy. I pray that we will all listen to God’s voice speaking to us today and that we will pay attention to what he is saying and that we will walk in the way of the Lord.

A Sure Foundation / An Original Work / May 27, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 28:5, 6, 16, 23 & 26

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See I lay a stone in Zion,
A precious cornerstone,
A sure foundation;
The one who trusts will ne’er be dismayed.”

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Listen and hear my voice speaking;
Hear what I say to you;
Please pay attention;
Your God instructs, teaches the right way.”

In that day the Lord Almighty
Will be a glorious crown for
The remnant, His people;
He’s the source of strength to
Who stands against evil; turns from sin.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

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