No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful, Scripture tells us. But afterward, we are promised, it yields the peaceful fruit of an upright life.
Such discipline is too often thought of as chastisement for sin. While of course, this is included in what Scripture addresses, it also, and very importantly, includes all aspects of discipline – which has discipleship and learning at the center. So when a child afflicts a household with the screechings of violin practice, the family endures this for the joy that is set before them. This is the pattern. Submit to the hand of God – He will bring you low, and He will lift you up.
As we seek to get our lives around the word of the gospel, and at the same time to surround our lives with that gospel, think about these things. We learn difficult truths from God’s word, and then we live them. We learn difficult psalms, and then we sing them. We have our sight restored, and then we see.
God has imbedded the realities of death and resurrection, humbling and exalting, pain and joy, exile and return, into the very framework of the universe. We cannot escape from this pattern. Our duty as Christians is to understand it in our minds, hands, lungs, feet, legs, and hearts.