Scripture Meditation Proverbs 22:15

"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him." Proverbs 22:5

I have been including Proverbs in my Bible reading throughout the year and I just read a few verses until I come to one that pulls on my heart. I then stop, meditate on the words and allow the Lord to kind of unveil and break down the verse for me. He usually does it by bringing to mind other supporting Scripture for me to go read alongside of it or by forming the verse into a practical word picture in my mind, so that it's easier to chew on. This particular verse came in my reading at just the right time, considering what's going on in my household.

My girls are now two years and 4 months old and we're well into the days of whining, manipulation, rebellion, stealing, and just plain old ugly behavior. I wrote recently that I have also been slowly reading Don't Make Me Count to 3, in which the author encourages readers to not be shocked by a child's sideways behavior, because they are sinners, so of course sinners sin! But on days when I roll out of bed and we're well into a wild breakfast with two two year olds while I am carrying a fussy baby around on my hip, it's easy to be shocked and irritated by sinful behavior.

This verse actually stirred up something different in me about this sinful behavior in my girls.

It says that folly is BOUND UP in the heart of my child. Something that is harmful for their well being and for their relationships with others is caught, bound, stuck in their hearts. They are prone to sin because it's what is bound in them. Seeing folly, or sin, as something that is bound up in them, is a word picture that aroused great compassion in me for them as I thought back on their behaviors. It made discipline feel less like a chore and more like a rescue. God is using me to "unbind" this harm with discipline. And, as if with a rod, I am driving it far from them. It's like I can see this harmful sin that was bound in their hearts in that moment, being driven away as I correct them, encourage them towards repentance, and help them to experience the grace of forgiveness.

As I was reading this, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Hebrews 12 which talks about fathers disciplining the ones they love and then goes on to talk about how it feels to be disciplined. The last part of it says,

"God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

Disciplining my girls is NOT PLEASANT. I know, Lord! I think his wording could not have been more right on here, because for sure it is not pleasant but also it is PAINFUL. Not just for the one getting the discipline, but also for me giving it! It is a really painful process to unbind the folly in my children's hearts.

But to consider the alternative is so devastating. The alternative would be to avoid this painful, sometimes altogether unpleasant process and to lazily avoid the reality that sin and folly is bound up in the heart of my child. To unresponsibly allow that sin to remain in my child without any attempt to drive it out, as with a shepherd's rod, is simply selfish and unloving. I think that may be one of the most profound ways parents today show their children that it's just too hard to love them well and it's just easier to float on by.

What I am anticipating is that promise for LATER ON. When we go through disicpline, LATER ON it produces a HARVEST of righteousness and peace. What a gift! I want this so badly for my children. I want them to be blessed with a harvest that I am helping them grow now, though they have no idea they are in the middle of a field. Living by the Word, by the ways of the Lord is not a religious obligation with no reward. It is life and peace and that last word righteousness means that we are like Jesus and that is a gift he himself gives to us as we lay our lives in his care.

And I am not above my own children. I am living this process as well. In some ways I am experiencing the "later on" harvest now, from ways the Lord has already disciplined parts of my heart. And in some ways I am going through the painful and unpleasant discipline of stubborn, hard headed places deep in my heart. Some of them are taking just years and years for the Holy Spirit to chip away at in me but I look to the promise of LATER ON and am willing to keep on, anticipating a harvest from all of Jesus' work in me, as well as my children. To God be the glory.