Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro
 
He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.   Proverbs 13:24

Child discipline is an issue today that is quickly being taken over by worldly psychologists and child-advocates who think that spanking a child or administering any kind of coporal punishment is child abuse.  Yet from what we see in Proverbs today, child abuse should be defined a little differently.  It should be defined as those who refuse to apply the rod of discipline to their children in a loving way so as to train them to be unselfish.

The rod is mentioned here - and is it mentioned because the parent is supposed to apply the rod to the child's rear-end in a controlled way for the purpose of training that child properly.  This is to be done without a fit of anger or rage - for disciplining under that kind of spirit will often lead to over-disciplining a child - or hitting them out of anger - rather than out of a desire to train and teach.  The wise man and woman discipline their child - because to refrain from discipline is to hate your child.  These are strong words - and need to be examined.

When we refuse to discipline a child - we are leaving them to the dictates of their sinful nature.  Contrary to the world-view of modern psychology, the Bible does not teach that man is basically good.  The Bible teaches that we are evil because of man's fall into sin.  Because of that event - and the effect it had on all mankind - we are basically selfish and self-centered.  Left on our own, we will become little monsters who demand our own way.  There is also another problem with the sinful nature and the way it works in our hearts.  The natural man does not submit himself to rules or authority very well.  A child will learn to say, "No" early in life, and needs to be trained to submit to authority and to rules.  Our sinfulness has us react to rules by wanting to buck them and do our own thing.  This needs to be an area of child training.  We need to teach our children to obey - and to submit to the authority that is over them.  Without this they will not function well in society.  When a child learns to be obedient, learns to be respectful, learns to work hard and be selfless in his attitude and actions it is a blessing to all those around him.  Consider what an entire society would look like with this kind of parenting? 

The Bible says that we need to discipline our children "diligently."  I will be honest with you - that this is difficult to do.  At times I would only discipline my children when they annoyed me enough to merit my all-important time and effort.  Hope you got the sarcasm in that statement.  Disciplining your children diligently requires a full commitment to seeing character and godliness developed in them.  You cannot just discipline them when you get mad because they are making your life difficult.  Discipline requires a full commitment of your life. 

This may seem like a lot, but let me give another testimony about this kind of child-rearing.  We have 6 children - 2 guys and 4 girls.  We are not model parents by any stretch of the word.  God has given us much grace as we stumbled and tried our best in this whole thing called parenting.  But one thing we have noticed is that when you give yourself to parenting after this model - you truly enjoy being with your children throughout your life.  We love being with our kids - and have the best time when we are.  They are a delight to our hearts.  I remember sharing with someone in a grocery store that we have 6 children.  Her response was whether we were still sane - and how much Prozac we needed to handle that many kids.  I smiled when she said this, but quickly stated that our kids were a delight - and that God gave us much grace and that is what helped us rear 6 kids.  That is the joy of living this way and rearing your children.  It is a blessing not only to your children as they mature - but it is a blessing to you and your wife as well.  The truth is that God is maturing not just your kids - He is maturing you as well.
Add Comment
 
 
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him. Proverbs 22:15

Ah, we come to the NOT-Dr. Spock proverb.  If you do not know who Dr. Spock is the first thing I should tell you is that he is not the pointy-eared science officer from the Star Trek series.  He is a child psychologist from the 1960's who announced to the world through his writings that spanking a child was wrong.  Unfortunately an entire generation decided that he was right (after all he is a psychologist!) and that God was wrong.  If you are wondering the results of that choice, take a look at our society today. 

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.  This is a view that is also rejected by the vast majority of psychologists and educators today.  We are told that we need to let children "express themselves."  When we try to impose our views upon them - we are only warping them in our image.  I can only tell you that when we add a biblical worldview to the practice of guiding and disciplining a child - people in the academic world tend to go ballistic.  But the biblical fact is, well . . . fact. 

The Bible reprents mankind as fallen and ruined due to sin.  That includes little ones fresh out of the womb.  I know that it is very easy to look at little ones and think, "Oh, they are so cute - they're just little angels."  The problem is that they are NOT little angels.  The Biblical view is that they are little fools - and will remain that way unless we apply the rod of discipline in their lives.  Children will basically be selfish and self-centered.  The will have a tendency toward sin - and if left to themselves without discipline will become little tyrants.  Some will howl with disapproval for this statement saying that not all children are this way.  I've helped rear six children and would be the first to say that different children have different ways that they express their sinful nature - but every one of them needed discipline to keep from being fools.  Some of my children were active in their rebellion - others were passive in how they disobeyed - but without a doubt they all disobeyed naturally. 

God's Word says that what we are after is their hearts.  Note that we read that foolishness is bound up in a child's heart.  We are not aiming for their bottoms - although that is where the discipline usually is administered.  We are aiming for their hearts.  We want them to see that they are fallen and that they need God.  We want them to see that they are foolish and need the wisdom of God.  We want them to see that they are sinful and need the forgiveness of God.  We also want them to see that they are bound in sin and desperately need the deliverance of God.  Finally, we need for them to see that they are fatally flawed and need the regeneration of God that comes with salvation.  They need their "heart of stone" to be replaced at salvation with the heart of flesh that God promises in the new covenant. 

One reason we do this is because they must learn that discipline is the way of life.  God will continue to discipline them as Hebrews 12:5-9 says.  If we are His children - we WILL be disciplined.  Thus we are to be trained by our parents early to learn to receive discipline and to learn from it.  The rod of discipline is applied to help remove the foolishness from our hearts.  As it does its work, we will grow in wisdom and understanding - and will learn to put away foolish things from our lives. 

There are some who will argue that the "rod" mentioned here is just words.  But the word itself means a rod or stick - a club or the stick in a spear.  I will not argue with those who say that at times God refers to the rod of His mouth.  But when it comes to child training there are other passages in Proverbs that make it clear that we are to spank our children in disciplining them. This being said, I will also state clearly that over-spanking a child is abuse - and that God's Word refers to "LOVING" discipline that should be administered.  Simply grabbing a child and swatting them is very ineffective.  There should be instruction, clear boundaries, discipline, as well as reassuring love that is given after any kind of spanking that is given to a child.  Our children need to know that we are not disciplining them because they are annoying us.  We are discplining them so that they will become pliable in the hands of God - and so that they will learn not to embrace foolishness when it presents itself in their minds or through their friends and aquaintences.  This is the kind of discipline that will train up that child.  It is also the kind that will help them love their parents - and later the Lord for what He is doing.  They will see that this is a very positive thing done out of love and always done with their ultimate best interests in mind.

Add Comment
 
 
A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool. Proverbs 17:10

God gave me a wonderful man who has a heart after Him to be my mentor.  His name is John Dale Rector.  John Dale spent 3 years of his life teaching and training me in the things of the Lord.  He taught by precept and by example.  He also had his hands full as I was a proverbial bull in a china shop with my zeal that lacked wisdom.  Thus John Dale had to spend more than his fair share of time rebuking me for my excesses.  Thus he taught me a very important verse of Scripture and had me memorize it early in my walk with the Lord.  The verse says, "Let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness."  That particular verse has a lot to do with what today's proverb has to teach us.

I am an advocate for both verbal and corporal punishment.  There is a time for rendering blows to fools.  One of those times in during childhood where the responsibility of the parent is to train up a child in the way he should go.  It is a time where through loving discipline (which includes spanking) a parent seeks to teach a child what he should and should not do.  The parent is not trying to dominate the child or to crush his spirit.  The parent IS seeking to help a child grasp what is acceptable and unacceptable to God and to society.  But the end of that corporal punishment is to train a child to be a young man or woman who knows two things.  First he or she knows how to accept rebuke from the Spirit of God.  This happens as he or she is walking through life and about to make un ungodly or unwise decision.  The Spirit of God then rises up within to remind of Scripture, to offer correction and guidance with the Word.  Some times the Spirit just activates our conscience and we are smitten with a bad sense or feeling - or we just know that what we are about to do, or have done, is wrong.  What we desire to do with our children (and in training disciples in the church) is to have them be responsive to that rebuke - to that warning from within.

The second way that a parent and discipler wants to train up their charge is to have them be responsive to people who come to them with a word of rebuke.  It would be wonderful if everyone who offered such rebuke were being constructive with it - but we all know that is a perfect world and not the real one.  The truth is that even non-constructive criticism can be beneficial to us.  Therefore we want to be open to all rebuke.  The wise thing is to receive the rebuke and be thankful for it.  Then take it to the Lord and ask Him to confirm what is in agreement with what He is doing through the Word of God.  Then take what God affirms and use it to grow into all the fullness of Jesus Christ in our character and actions.  This is how to allow rebuke to go deep within us - rather than just bounce off of us as we reject it outright. 

The Scripture tells us that in order for this to happen, we have to be one who has "understanding."  This is the ability to discern and perceive truth from error - right from wrong - God from the flesh and the world - the work of the Holy Spirit from the work of the devil.  We discern an pay attention to what God saying to us.  Because of this we truly understand the will of God - and grow wiser because we have learned to see things from His perspective. 

The proverb tells us that this ability to receive rebuke and understanding from goes deeper into us than a hundred blows into a fool.  An interesting thing is that God instructed not to give corporal punishment beyond 39 blows at any time.  There is the penalty of imprisonment and even the death penalty that is applied by the state to crimes against society.  But God knows that a hundred blows as opposed to 39 would not bring wisdom and understanding into a fool.  There is a point where no amount of corporal punishment is effective.  The fool rejects all of it - verbal rebuke as well as any kind of physical punishment.  Thus we know that all that is left to us is intercessory prayer that God will ultimately break the fool and open his heart to begin to understand. 

When I read this proverb, I am thankful to those whom God uses to offer rebuke into my life.  Let me be perfectly honest that often it is hard to receive the rebuke - and yes, it hurts.  But those who wound us can be healers.  Remember that when a surgeon does his work he has to injure us before he can take out the cancer that will kill us.  We consider the incision made by his knife a good thing - because it is ultimately working healing into our lives.  Remember that the next time you receive some verbal surgery through a brother or sister in Christ who loves you.  Those words will bring blessing into your life if you receive them and allow God to work through them.  If it is hard to remember that - just remember this instead.  I'd rather have some verbal surgery - than a hundred blows on my back!
Add Comment
 
 
Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge. Proverbs 23:12

This is a simple admonition here in Proverbs - and yet if we will look at it carefully, it will yield to us some very helpful information. 

The first thing we see is that we are to apply our heart to discipline.  The word "apply" here means, "to bring to" - thus what God is saying to us is that we need to bring our hearts to something.  Here we read that what we bring our hearts to is discipline.  The word discipline is "musar" which means to instruct with discipline.  It refers most often to the discipline given by a father - both by word and by the rod. 

It is very easy when discipline is applied to us for us to not allow it to reach the heart.  We may hear the words - and receive the correction - but we do not bring our hearts to it.  True correction and discipline is for the heart - not the bottom.  It might be applied to the rear end with the rod - but the aim in these things needs to be directly to the heart.  Those who protest the use of the rod see the issue being striking a child - and they see it as evil in all circumstances.  But the godly parent is not aiming for the rear end alone.  They want to instruct with their discipline.  They want their words and their use of the rod to affect the heart of the child.  If you have their heart - in the end you will truly change their behavior.  What Solomon is saying though, is for the one receiving the discipline.  Apply your heart to what God is trying to teach you. 

If you are like me - there are times when you bristle at discipline.  It is not pleasant to have God apply the rod to us.  It is not a delightful thing for us to be corrected and rebuked.  But when God grants us discipline it is only for our best interests.  We can be absolutely assured of this.  Therefore we need to train ourselves to receive it joyfully - gratefully - and educationally.  If we do, maybe we won't need a second dose of discipline to complete the job for us. 

The second admonition here is that we also apply our ears to words of knowledge.  Knowledge here refers to more than just head-learning.  Solomon is telling us about a knowing of God and His ways.  He refers to a working knowledge - a practical knowledge - intimate knowledge - knowledge that truly changes the way we act.  The verb "apply" is assumed here - thus we are told to bring our ears to this knowledge that God is seeking to give us.  It is more than just hearing it - it is concentrated listening.  It is listening to learn and to apply it to one's life.  This is key to us becoming wise. 

If we will truly bring our hearts and ears to what God is seeking to communicate to us, we will be blessed greatly.  God longs for us to be wise and to know and follow Him with all our hearts.  These two practices - bringing our hearts to times of discipline - and bringing our ears to hear obediently what God says to us - will assure that we grow and personally experience all the godliness that God desires to give us when He works and speaks in our lives.
Add Comment
 
 
Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Here is probably one of the most well known proverbs that there is.  It has to deal with how to rear a child.  Too often it is quoted more like, raise up a child and church - and he won't rebel or depart from going to church or doing the church thing.  Many a devastated parent reads this verse and wonders why little Johnny doesn't go to church any longer - or want anything to do with the Lord.  Let's take a close look at this verse to see what is DOES say and what is DOES NOT say to us as we seek to rear our children for the Lord. 

The word train is very important to know here - as we see that the "training" of the child in the way he should go is imperative to the blessing of him not departing from that way when he is old.  This word is the Hebrew word, "chanak" which means to train or to dedicate.  The root word for "chanak" means to narrow something - thus to initiate, discipline, or train it to that narrow path.  Ah, here we begin to see what God is saying to us about child training.  We are to narrow the child's way - by training and instruction - so that the child's way conforms itself to God's way.  This narrowing had to do with the opening of a path.  It was a constricting of that opening so that someone went a specific way as they sought to enter the path before them.  Let's take a moment and talk about how this is applied to child training. 

When we talk about "narrowing" a child's way - we are talking about discipline.  When they are little it means instructing - but also if necessary corporal punishment (spanking if you will) in order to train the child that there are certain things you just do not do.  If you choose to do these things there will be punishment.  It means we MUST correct our children when they act out in a way that is contrary to God's way.  When we refuse to do this - we are not helping our child find his way - we are confusing them.  Study after study has shown that children desire boundaries - and that they will test the ones that are imposed to see if they are truly boundaries or not.  Create godly boundaries for a child (oh, and by the way, live by them yourself as well) and a child will have a great deal of stability in his or her life.  In many ways, to rear a child in this way is simply to prepare him for a life of discipleship later.  Jesus calls us to "Make disciples of all the nations."  This means our own children as well.  When we teach them that disicpline is the "way of life," we prepare them for the reality that reward and punishment - really are the way of life.  They will face such things all the remainder of their days.  It is best to begin young teaching them such things - and showing them through our discipline that there are very real consequences for act

Too many see child reading in this permission society as letting a child find his own way in the world without the parents doing much to get in his way.  This is a sure way to lose a child - to have them follow after their own sinful nature and ruin themselves by indulging their flesh and walking in an ungodly path.  Adam Clarke spoke of this passage as teaching a child how to narrow the opening of his path so that he was directed in God's way, no matter what chioce he had to make.  Clarke spoke of how we needed to show the child the path - instruct him on the duties, dangers, and blessings of the path - and then do all we can do guide the child so that he takes God's path.  Thus when a child faces the reality of life in this world - and the choices that are placed before Him - then that child will be able to reason from the Scriptures and know how to conduct himself or herself in the world. 

We are told to train up this child in the "way" he should go.  Way is our old Hebrew friend, "derek" and it means a path, a way - and was probably the word used most often to speak of choices someone would make that would lead to a lifestyle - or way of living.  Note here that we are to train up this child to the lifestyle and way - the path of life in which he "SHOULD" go.  Here we face a very serious problem when we present this to the average worldling of today.  A way in which someone "should go" indicates that one way is superior to another - something this world finds anathema to their worldview.  They think all lifestyles and all paths are the same.  Thus to say a child has a way he "should go" rather than to just let the child find his own way and follow his own heart until he knows his own path - that is nothing more than legalism and a domineering way of rearing a child.  The worldling parent is not supposed to care if the child goes in a way that is not acceptable to the parent.  The child will find his own way - and besides, it is the height of arrogance to think we KNOW how someone should go! 

The Bible has a much different view here.  God gives us a Law that guides us into the right way and away from the wrong way.  There are certain moral choices that are soundly right - and others that are horribly wrong.  There are choices in the area of sexuality that are the right way to live - and others that are wrong (not just an alternate lifestyle - just wrong).  Taking the time to teach a child these ways - and guide them into these paths - that is what child training is all about.  There is a right way - God's way - and that is how we are to teach our children to walk.  We are to train them that right way - and also to instruct them on the consequences of walking in the wrong way.  We should show them, not just God's instructions, but also God's judgments on certain ways of living and certain choices that they might make. 

Then there is the promise.  It is a bold promise.  Even when he is old he will not depart from it.  As the child grows older - with instruction, discipline, warnings, encouragements and everything else a parent should use to teach him - that child will not depart from God's way.  The example of the parent is also vital here because we teach not just with words - but with our actions as well.  When they see these things - hear these things - watch these things modeled before them - then then will know the way in which to walk. 

This proverb involves so much more than just taking a child to church and youth group.  It involves serious child training using God's Word as our blueprint.  It involves selling out on how we live ourselves and laboring to teach our children God's Word on morals and meaning.  We labor - striving to show them God's way - striving to help them see the forks in the road - but also the consequences of taking the wrong turn there.  These are the things that matter if we are to be successful in rearing children for the Lord.  If we instruct and lead in a way that narrows their choices into the wise and godly way - we can be assured that when they grow old, they will not depart from the way in which they were instructed.  It is a promise that God's way - taught in God's way - modeled in God's way - will provide results as a child chooses His way as His own way in life. 
Add Comment
 
 
Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol. Proverbs 23:13-14

Just a warning as I begin today's Proverb of the day . . . those who hold that any type of physical punishment on a child is child abuse will be greatly offended at the wisdom God gives us today.  With that said - I will go on record as supporting the spanking of a disobedient and rebellious child.  We've done it with all six of ours and they seem to have adjusted well - none of them are ax murderers or any other kind of violent offenders. 

All this being said - mostly tongue in cheek - there are proverbs about child rearing that I find humorous.  This is one of them.  This proverb begins by saying that we do not need to hold back discipliine from a child.  This is actually one of the most "unloving" things you can do to your child.  You are ensuring that the child will be used to getting his or her own way - and that they will indeed be a spoiled brat as they grow older.  At the very least, you are making sure they will be selfish - and that the lessons they should have learned early in life will be learned with much harder lessons later in life. 

All children are born selfish and self-centered.  This is due to the fall of man into sin.  I realize that this particular view runs counter to most educational models of this present world.  They believe that man is basically good and that if we just get out of man's way with our oppressive rules and regulations - man would find his own way to the next level of evolution.  The Bible teaches that man is fallen - and that given his own way that man will ruin himself eventually.  We watch this in our world in general from year to year - decade to decade - and millenium to millenium.  But we can watch the same thing with a child.  Every child needs discipline.  Some will seem to more naturally be given to disicpline - while others are terrors from birth.  You can be assured of a different ride based on the basic temperment of the child - but all need discipline. 

What I find funny about this passage is the next statement.  "Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die."  Some will try to argue that the rod refers to the mouth or some other ridiculous translation stretch.  The rod refers to a stick or switch or some other instrument which you use to strike the child.  The word "strike" here is the Hebrew "nakah" and it means to strike or to smite.  It speaks of a physical strike.  Now the intent here is not to damage the child - but to sting the child with the spanking so as to administer a physical response to disobedience.  As the child grows older the striking or smiting should be eventually replaced with reason and understanding.  But when they are little the physical pain is to direct them away from the wrong - and eventually into the right as their reasoning skills grow.  They learn obedience from what they suffer in this part of being disciplined.  What I find funny - is that the Bible tells us that the child won't die when you strike him or her.  First, that should tell us that the intent is not to damage the child - but it also reminds me of the way a couple of my kids reacted to being spanked.  Some would do all they could to not register any kind of response.  Others though could have won an academy award with theirs.  You would think they were about to die with the way they carried on about the spanking.  We would talk and remind them why they were being disciplined - and afterward would hug them and remind them that we loved them.  But during - oh, during the discipliine one would have thought that they were about to die.  I think this statement here is for parents - to remind them that some of us do have the more dramatic children who will pitch a fit over their discipline.

The second verse - verse 14 then reminds us of the reason for the discipline in the first place.  We will strike our child with the rod - and rescue them from Sheol.  Sheol is the place of the dead - it is the place where punishment is given until the final day of judgment.  If left to themselves, children will run the way of their sin nature.  They will not come to Christ on their own - neither will they often see the value of godly discipline and godly character.  Character is not a given in a child (or an adult for that matter).  Character is built from times of discipline and molding.  Those moments honestly, are usually more painful that many of us would like to admit. 

To withhold discipline and spankings from a child is actually a cruel thing to do.  Life is eventually going to administer discipline to us.  We face it every day.  Waking up in time to get to work is discipline.  There are days when I do not find it pleasurable - but I discipline myself to do it for the good.  Eating properly and exercising for my health can be a discipline that is not enjoyable.  I would prefer eating 25 chocolate chip cookies - but discipline myself not to for the good in the end.  I learn to exercise because the 30-40 minutes of discipline results in an entire day feeling good and being able to live a longer, healthier life.  Rearing a child to think that discipline is not a part of life is cruel.  They grow up wrongly thinking that everything is going to be easy and fun.  I am not one of those who think we should make all learning fun.  To be honest - some learning is just - well learning.  It is hard to memorize - but it bears such wonderful fruit.  It is hard to discipline myself to read 4 chapters of the Word every day - but it has yielded a strategic grasp of the Bible I could not have gotten any other way.  Discipline is part of life.  Proverbs itself tells me that reproofs for discipline is the way of life.  If we lived in a pefect world where selfishness and self-centeredness were not affecting us - we could live in a world without discipline.  But we do not.  We live in a world where people are selfish - where we ourselves our selfish.  That is why we need discipline.  And those who receive it early in life from loving parents are far better off than those who think they are blessing their children by withholding it. 
Add Comment
 
 
A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools. Proverbs 26:3

Here is a marvelous proverb - and one that in many ways necessitates the entire penal system in any country.  The interesting thing about this proverb though is that you see that a horse and a donkey can be trained.  They may require a whip and a bridle to accomplish the task - but they can be trained.  You may have to break them in the process - but with these instruments one can train these animals to be useful.  But, the fool cannot be trained.  The only situation adequate for the fool is a rod for his back.  It is only through very specific consequences that the fool can be dissuaded from his foolishness. 

Here, also, is where many people rise up and begin barking about a person's rights.  How could the Bible speak about a rod for a man's back?  That is against his fundamental civil rights!  Yet, those who state such things fail to see the incredible failure our penal system has in this world.  We no longer punish criminals.  We offer them college educations, libraries, televisions in their rooms - and a whole list of rights they have learned to demand from us.  It is easy some times to see why recidivism is so rampant in our prisons.  The exit to these prisons becomes a revolving door.  Give a fool rights - and that fool will use them to continue in his foolishness unabated.  Offer him punishment worthy of the crime - including beatings and capital punishment - and many fools will turn from their ways when they think of the ultimate consequences attached to such actions.  Take the much maligned issue of the caning of the American citizen in the far east.  We heard howls and screams about this issue.  Maybe though, we should look at the recidivism in those nations.  It is almost at zero.  Another thing running zero in their societies is the people who even want to commit such crimes.  They know the high price of such actions, to they refrain from doing them. 

Fools do not learn from those trying to educate them.  That is why they are fools.  They are committed to their way of living and thinking (or non-thinking as the case may be).  To try to rebuke or train them brings their scorn and laughter.  They are set in their ways and need a much stronger deterent to their way.  That is the reason why the rod needs to be applied to their backs.  Some will continue to cringe because they are part of our overly permissive society.  Our society - at least the liberal parts of it - tend to blame themselves for everything someone does bad.  We need to consider what we've done to cause them to act in such a way.  Thus we have the fruits of the Freudian tendency to blame parents and anyone else we can find for our actions before ever considering our own choices as paramount to the situation.  Perish the thought that maybe the fool is that way because he chooses foolishness.  The sad thing is that we will continue to watch foolishness rise with our permissive attitudes and actions.  The fool would learn just like the horse and the donkey - if the proper motivation were applied.
Add Comment
 
 
Stripes that wound scour away evil, And strokes reach the innermost parts. Proverbs 20:30

Our society has grown beyond the point of punishing people - for we have become enlightened to where such things are seen as barbaric.  We even hold such a view of child training as well.  Yet the words of Scripture stand here - and even shock our sensibilities in the 21st century.  Now, am I saying here that we should return to caning people - putting them on a whipping post?  My answer to this is simply - such a thing is not allowed in our culture - but I'm not so sure that such things are too much to our advantage.  Let's begin by looking at the passage itself - then we'll come back to my shocking comments - and maybe some shocking conclusions. 

"Stripes that wound" definitely shocks us.  The phrase means stripes that are delivered that leave bruises.  It can also mean stripes from some sort of corporal punishment.  There is no doubt that this means corporal punishment.  21st century society in the West shrinks from such a statement in horror.  We have come beyond this point - we are enlightened.  Hmmm - and how is that working for our society?  Has our system of crime and punishment led to a safer and more secure society?  Do we have "repeat" offenders - does our system "scour away evil"?  Although I'm sure some reading this would consider me little more than complete barbarian for saying so - I'm not sure that we have the perfect system in place. 

It is interesting to note that in Taiwan, where corporal punishment is used for certain offenses - their crime rate is far lower than ours - and their repeat offender rate is a fraction of what ours is.  Could it be that a controlled corporal punishment is good for us?  Could it be that receiving a beating, a caning, or some other form of corporal punishment is a greater deterent to crime and misbehavior in society than is encarceration for months and years?  In a world where our penal system has become little more than "Crime University" for those who are there - where they are trained in crime and recruited for a lifetime of law-breaking - can we honestly say that what we are doing is what is most effective?

God tells us that corporal punishment "scours away evil." The phrase used here speaks of using a type of brillo pad to scrape and scour out a metal pan.  This was the way they cleaned vessels in biblical days.  They would scour out a pot, making sure that it was clean of debris and of rust.  When they were done - there was nothing harmful left.  There is a cost to corporal punishment - a true physical cost - and the pain experienced reminds us to avoid such behavior in the future.  Granted such punishment must be closely controlled to make sure that it does not cross over into abuse.  (The Scriptures did not allow a man to be whipped beyond 39 stripes.)  But physical pain is a motivator - a powerful one.  The natural response in our lives to physical pain is to avoid it.  Think of your own response to any kind of physical pain.  You avoid it - and the only times you allow it is when you know that it has a positive result that goes beyond the pain.  We exercise knowing full well that we will experience soreness - yet we know that such exercise is good for us in the end.  Could it be that corporal punishment has such a value individually and corporately as a society? 

The second half of this proverb says that the strokes reach our innermost parts.  Too many look at corporal punishment in light of the physical pain - but according to the Word of God - these strokes reach our innermost parts.  There is more than just physical pain in the flesh going on in the person receiving it.  There is something communicated to the "inner man."  There is warning - there is instruction - there is correction.  We remember the pain and honestly - the humiliation involved.  Corporal punishment is forced humility - which is something the proud need to humble them to obey the law - to obey what is best for their souls.  When it is over we think to ourselves - I won't do that again!

Where this is true of the physical - it is also true of the spiritual stripes that are delivered when we are experiencing the judgments and corrections of God.  Here is another thing that is rejected by most of the 21st century enlightened ones.  God would not punish - He does not judge!  They are indignant with the very thought of such a thing. 

God is an excellent parent - the best of the best.  His children need rules - need laws - need limits.  When they step over those limits there are consequences.  No matter how much we or our government want to create a world without consequences - such a world is NOT GOOD for us.  It is better that we experience the pain of what our disobedience brings - for such things keep us from future disobedience.  The consequences of our actions act like a loving stripe and a gracious stroke that will scour evil from our souls.  These things reach our very innermost being.  It would be wonderful if we would simply hear God's Word - obey it and be blessed 24 hours of every day.  But we are fallen - and we think we're smarter than God.  We disregard the instruction and forge on thinking that we really know better - or that the rules really don't apply to us.  Then the consequences of our actions come like stripes to our souls.  Those strokes reach our innermost parts and instruct us that we can ignore and contradict God - but we do so at the peril of our own safety and happiness.  God's scouring in these situations cleanses us and makes us much less interested in evil in the future. 

Stripes and strokes - whether physical or spiritual - are actually good for us.  Without them we will place too much trust in our own faulty conclusions when they contradict those of God, Who truly does know best.  Is all this pleasant?  Not in the least - but often the unpleasant is far more instructive to us than a world without any consequences or punishment.  Some describe this world without punishment or consequence as paradise.  In the end though, such a world is only a breeding ground for pride, arrogance, and a foolishness that will lead to destruction.  The school of stripes and strokes may seem severe to us now - but in the end they bring peace and joy as we learn the way of God's judgments and corrections - and how to avoid them through a life of submission and obedience to His infinitely wise ways.
Add Comment