A few months ago, as I was trying and failing to get Nathanael to respond to “no”, God gave me a beautiful understanding of disciplining a child from His point of view.

Discipline is about training, rather than punishment.

I definitely have L plates on when it comes to training our son, but because of how God has disciplined me as my Father over 24 years, and because of what the Bible says, it’s something I take seriously.

I have been disciplined many times by God, but I have never heard impatience or anger in His voice. He has never rejected me, and He’s always walked with me through the discipline.

He has been strong, unyielding, and has authority. I have had a choice whether to respond, but the choice was to respond, or not be in His will.

If I hadn’t responded each time, there would have been a negative effect in my life, but through submitting to Him, and accepting His discipline, I have been changed, trained, and I have benefitted in countless ways.

Many years ago, He rescued me from an anger that was starting to control me through a short sharp discipline.

He had allowed the voice of pain and anger for quite some time, because of things I had gone through. It was a legitimate voice that needed to come out, but the time had passed for that, and anger had become a habit.

One day when I had just exploded, Jon and I walked back to our car in a car park. As we were approaching, I saw a bumper sticker in the window of another car. It was a scripture from Genesis. Before I could look it up, I knew what it was. It was God warning Cain about His anger and sin being at his door.

I knew that was God speaking to me. I shared it with Jon and submitted to God’s discipline. Through the simple act of being in the light with Jon, and the posture of my heart in submission, I was changed, and I stopped exploding.

Other times His discipline has come as conviction: through scripture, something someone has said, or simply God’s Spirit speaking to mine.

Conviction of impatience, unfaithfulness, not being harmless, control, fear, rebellion, and many other things.

He has cleansed me deep inside, trained my character, taught me and made me straight where I was crooked.

Sometimes the change in me has come easily, sometimes I have had to walk under His discipline for months, or years, outworking deep things, so that I could be free.

One of the most recent things He has trained us in is humility. 

Last year our car died and we couldn’t afford to get another one. As with all things, we tried to find what His will was through the circumstance and live in line with that.

As we changed our lives through not having a car, we slowly began to realise that He was humbling us. Not humiliating us, but humbling us.

Through knowing it was right to accept lifts from others, or not being able to do certain things; for me, having to walk everywhere with Nathanael, or for Jon, getting the bus to work and then around the city to meetings, we tried to choose the path of humility, and have our character changed.

Then seven months later, through supernatural provision, we were able to buy a great car, and we got it the day before the first lockdown.

We felt so loved by our Father, both in helping us to humble ourselves, and be changed, and in taking such great care of us as a family, in the timing with Coronavirus.

To be fathered by God is to receive many things, but one thing I am truly thankful for, is His discipline!