In the School of God (6) The punishment room

"You endure sorrows as discipline : God acts towards you as for sons, for who is the son that the father does not discipline ? ... But no discipline for the present seems to be a subject of joy but rather of sadness ; yet, later, it renders the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it." Hebrews 12: 7-11

No one likes this class, neither Master nor students.

We penetrate on tiptoe, silently. God compels us to enter it because he loves us ; its only objective is to get us to grasp what the purpose of his discipline is.

If a pupil is rebellious and Master has exhausted all means to get him to behave well, it becomes necessary to keep him in class after the hour to perform a supervised exercise.

The Master loves his students too much to let them live anyhow, without worrying about his teaching. He wants them to learn and practice what he taught them for their good and that of their neighbor. He takes care of them for this purpose. The history of all men of God is its demonstration. Let us remember, however, that "if he afflicts, he also has compassion according to the greatness of his kindness, for it is not willingly that he afflicts and saddens the sons of men" (Lam 3:32, 33) much less her children.

Discipline is a personal formation that the Father gives us so that the life of Christ may flourish in us. When the flesh, our "first way of life", hinders this blossoming, the Father intervenes in various ways : he speaks to us by a verse of the Bible that the Holy Spirit puts before our eyes, by a preaching, a remark d one of our relatives, etc.

Sometimes he knows that we need a stronger language to understand ; he chastises us then by a trial which he causes to last until he reaches his goal.

God does this because He loves us in a perfect way. Infinitely wise, he never errs in his way of doing things with us: he knows us intimately and gives us a personalized treatment.

When they have successfully completed their particular exercises, difficult students come out of that class. They go away grateful and calm, they have understood that the Master only wanted their good (second verse of the day).

Source (To pleasing the Lord)