Have You Been to the Woodshed?
My godly parents believed in the saying, “spare the rod, spoil the child.” My parents must have loved me a lot because I sure wasn’t spoiled.
Believers are the children of God, so we should be thankful when our heavenly Father disciplines us. The Bible compares this to how we discipline our own children. As parents, we have a responsibility to train them in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). If we don’t step up to the plate and accept this assignment, we’ll have an undisciplined and untrained child who will grow up to be an adult with these same characteristics.
As born-again Christians, we should accept God’s discipline with joy and quickly make the changes required to become more like the Master. God will always let you know if you’ve done something that displeases Him, and that is your warning light to make the situation right. God’s discipline can be severe and very unpleasant. We tend to ignore Him at first and harden our heart against the pangs of conscience. We need to learn to listen to His voice and obey in order to avoid severe correction.
In Daniel Chapter 4, there’s an amazing Old Testament account of God’s severity. Because of the sin of pride, the King of Babylon spent seven years out behind the woodshed. Daniel 4:29,30 NKJV: “…He (King Nebuchadnezzar) was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?’” The very same hour he spoke those prideful words, God took away his sanity and he was driven from society. He ate grass like a cow and was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws.
When his sanity returned, he was restored as ruler of his kingdom with even greater honor than before. Nebuchadnezzar praised, glorified, and honored the King of kings. It’s astonishing what a radical trip to the woodshed can do for a person. Nebuchadnezzar finally admitted that God’s acts are just and true, and that He is able to humble the proud. The king of Babylon should have humbled himself, thereby avoiding such a severe correction.
The Bible tells believers to examine and judge themselves. “But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:31,32 NLT). If we stubbornly continue in disobedience, the consequences will be severe. Because God loves us, He will discipline us in order to turn our heart back to Him.
The Bottom Line: Humble yourself and obey, or you just might find yourself eating grass behind the woodshed.
Pastor Jimmy Tucker
(620) 223-1483
Diamond Community Church
2591 Jayhawk Road
Fort Scott, KS
Worship 10:45 a.m.