PSALM 129
My six-year-old son was confused recently when his Upward Flag
Football coach began teaching on the value of discipline. He had only
heard the word discipline used in the negative context of a punishment
for disobedience, but his coach unfolded the bigger picture that
“discipline” just means doing something that’s not fun today, in order
to reap greater benefits tomorrow. That can mean the loving discipline
of correction, or it can mean the self-discipline to work hard.
Sadly, not all discipline is meant in love. In Psalm 129, we are given the
painful picture of someone so persecuted by blows to the back that they
leave marks like the rows of a plowed field. The psalmist first gives thanks
that, through God’s power, those persecutors did not prevail against him.
He survived and even thrived in spite of them. He then prays for God’s
righteous judgment, that those who abused him would not reap God’s
blessing but would instead wither away. The unspoken implication is that
God’s people will reap a harvest of blessing. God in his love can turn even
the tears and hurts of harsh discipline into a greater joy in the long run. In
His grace, discipline always gives way to glory. –Ken Roach
My six-year-old son was confused recently when his Upward Flag
Football coach began teaching on the value of discipline. He had only
heard the word discipline used in the negative context of a punishment
for disobedience, but his coach unfolded the bigger picture that
“discipline” just means doing something that’s not fun today, in order
to reap greater benefits tomorrow. That can mean the loving discipline
of correction, or it can mean the self-discipline to work hard.
Sadly, not all discipline is meant in love. In Psalm 129, we are given the
painful picture of someone so persecuted by blows to the back that they
leave marks like the rows of a plowed field. The psalmist first gives thanks
that, through God’s power, those persecutors did not prevail against him.
He survived and even thrived in spite of them. He then prays for God’s
righteous judgment, that those who abused him would not reap God’s
blessing but would instead wither away. The unspoken implication is that
God’s people will reap a harvest of blessing. God in his love can turn even
the tears and hurts of harsh discipline into a greater joy in the long run. In
His grace, discipline always gives way to glory. –Ken Roach