Today’s reading: Jeremiah 4; Matthew 9
It will always be better to submit to the disciple of the Lord and let Him do His work than it will be to buck against His hand and try to fight or ignore what He is doing.
At the end of Jeremiah 4 we get a description of the utter destruction of Israel because they have refused to remain faithful to the Lord. Even in the midst of it though, God declares that He will not make a full end of Israel. This is important for us to remember, that when God bring discipline into our lives, it is not to destroy us in His anger, but to bring us to repentance so He can ultimately restore us to a better place than where we started. God’s discipline is transformational so that we can grow in character, grow in righteousness, and/or be prepared for the greater work He has in store for us. In the midst of His discipline against Israel though, we find Israel in complete denial, dressing in scarlet, ornamented with gold, and with painted eyes (i.e. wearing makeup). Far from lamenting the destruction and repenting before the Lord for their sin and rebellion, Israel was trying to carry on as though nothing was happening, as though they got to choose how things went, and they were just going to decide that they Lord did not get to discipline them.
Often, when we are facing God’s discipline, we have the choice to act the same way. God did not bring destruction on Israel as the first step, but sent prophets to warn Israel, and then in minor steps, ramping up the pressure as Israel refused to respond, until it ultimately got to an extreme/undeniable state. And when God brings discipline into our lives, it generally works the same way. He does not come against us with a heavy hand, but often when an admonishment or a rebuke from a friend, or He allows our hidden sin to be found out, and we have the choice to repent and turn His way right then or to put on our scarlet robe, ornament ourselves with gold, paint our eyes, and continue on as though nothing happened. But God is too loving to let us continue to wander toward destruction, so when we do this, He will increase the pressure, and generally the consequences, of His discipline. Like Israel, we can stand with a stiff neck and refuse to yield to the Lord, but God is not mocked, and eventually, He will have His way. He will not force us to repent, but He may strip everything away from us that we are holding onto so tightly instead of repenting, if we ultimately continue to refuse Him.
It is easy to feel like it is better not to let the Lord “win” in these moments. To submit to His discipline might cost us, or at least look like it might cost us, and so we try to straighten our back, keep our eyes forward, and feign ignorance as to what the Lord is doing. When we do this, we may see the short-term gains, that there are no immediate consequences, and that our life gets to continue on the way we want it to, but if we continue in this way, we will find ourselves eventually in a much worse state than before.
No matter what we may stand to lose when we submit to the Lord’s discipline, we have to remember that we serve a good God who loves us and is for us. His disciple is not to bring us to an end, but to transform us more into the picture of His goodness and glory, so that we might better reflect His love out into a broken and hurting world. So when we submit to His hand, it will not be for the worse, but always for the better, even if, like Israel in Jeremiah 4, we struggle to see the ultimate good God has in mind.
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